
GqpghtM 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



AN 



AMERICAN COMMENTARY 



ON THE 



OLD TESTAMENT 



PHILADELPHIA 

AMERICAN BAPTIST PUBLICATION SOCIETY 

BOSTON CHICAGO ATLANTA 

NEW YORK ST. LOUIS DALLAS 



I ' ** ° 1 J 



/ 






• - : ^ 



if 






THE 
BOOK OF GENESIS 



BY 

Prof. CALVIN GOODSPEED, D. D. 

i ' 

Baylor University 



Prof. D/M, WELTON, D. D. 

McMaster University 






Copyright 1S08 by the 
Ameeican Baptist Publication Society 



Published January, 1909 

r-x o -2-^0 



fftom tbe Soctetfi's own Ptesa 



PUBLISHERS' NOTE 



In the latter portion of the year 1892, while the honored Dr. Benjamin Griffith 
was still secretary of the Publication Society, the idea was conceived of broadening 
the scope and area of the Society's publications. In aid of this movement, and to 
enlist at the beginning public interest therein, a general letter was addressed to 
different representatives of the denomination asking for suggestions on behalf of 
this development. Among the suggestions that came in response was this, namely : 
that the Society undertake the preparation of a Commentary on the Old Testament 
to conform, in general style and plan, to the American Commentary on the New 
Testament, which had been received with so general favor, and which had secured 
a position of so great regard. 

Accordingly the matter was at once taken up by the Publication Committee 
of the Society, and the task was assumed. A beginning was made by securing Dr. 
Alvah Hovey, d. d., ll. d., president of Newton Theological Institution as general 
editor. This was the more gratifying to the Society, since Doctor Hovey had held 
the same relationship to the preparation of the Commentary on the New Testa- 
ment. The engaging of the writers for the work on the Old Testament was com- 
mitted *to Doctor Hovey, as was also the fixing of the rates of compensation to be 
paid therefor. These, because of the great expense of the undertaking, could be 
only comparatively low, and grateful acknowledgment is hereby made to the 
various writers, not only for the ability characterizing their work, but also for their 
self-sacrifice in being willing on this basis to undertake so great a task. The 
writers originally engaged by Doctor Hovey with the portions of the work assigned 
to them were as follows : to Prof. Daniel M. Welton, D. d., of McMaster University, 
Toronto, were assigned Genesis and Judges ; to Prof. Walter R. Betteridge, d. d. , 
of Rochester Theological Seminary, Exodus and Deuteronomy ; to Prof. Geo. F. 
Genung, d. d., of Suffield, Conn., Leviticus and Numbers ; to Prof. H. T. DeWolfe, 
Acadia College, Nova Scotia, Joshua ; to Prof. Geo. R. Hovey, d. d., Union College, 
Richmond, Va., First and Second Samuel ; to Prof. Ira M. Price, d. d., University 
of Chicago, First and Second Kings, and First and Second Chronicles ; to Pres. 
Geo. P. Gould, n. c, Regent's College, London, England, Ezra, Nehemiah, and 
Esther; to Pres. J. T. Marshall, d. d., Baptist College, Manchester, England, Job 
and Ecclesiastes ; to Prof. Howard Osgood, d. d., Rochester Theological Seminary, 
the Psalms ; to Pres. Geo. E. Merrill, d. d., ll. d., Colgate University, Hamilton, 
N. Y., the Song of Solomon; to Prof. John R. Sampey, d. d., Southern Baptist 
Theological Seminary, Louisville, Ky., Isaiah; to Prof. Chas. R. Brown, d. d., 
Newton Theological Institution, Newton Centre, Mass., Jeremiah, Lamentations, 
Zephaniah, and Habakkuk ; to J. B. Gough Pidge, D. d., Philadelphia, Hosea and 
Jonah; to Prof. Geo. R. Berry, d. d., Colgate University, Hamilton, N. Y., Prov- 
erbs; to Prof. Sylvester Burnham, d. d., Colgate University, Ezekiel, Haggai, and 

V 



vi PUBLISHERS' NOTE 



Malachi ; to Prof. W. J. McGlothlin, d. d., Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 
Micah and Nahum ; to Benjamin D. Hahn, d. d., Springfield, Mass., Daniel; to 
Philip A. Nordell, d. d., Brookline, Mass., Joel and Zechariah ; and to Hugh Ross 
Hatch, d. d., Acadia College, Nova Scotia, Amos. 

Doctor Welton prepared the Commentary on Judges, but he died before his 
task was finished, and his friend and colleague, Prof. Calvin Goodspeed, d. d., now 
of Baylor University, Waco, Texas, completed it, writing the Introduction to 
Genesis, and revising and completing the Commentary thereon. Through a mis- 
conception of the exact nature of the work, Professor Osgood relinquished the 
Psalms, and the preparation of the Commentary on that important book was under- 
taken by Pres. Geo. E. Merrill, of Colgate, at the earnest request of the general 
editor and the committee. President Merrill died in June, 1908, after having com- 
pleted about one-third of his task. It was for him a labor of love and deep sorrow 
was felt at his removal therefrom. At Doctor Merrill's death at earnest solicita- 
tion it was undertaken by Prof. George R. Berry, D. D., of Colgate, who had 
already been associated therein with Doctor Merrill. Doctor Hovey himself as- 
sumed charge of Obacliah and Ruth, but in the final apportionment these books 
were taken, the one by Professor Hatch, and the other by Doctor Piclge. 

In October, 1902, Doctor Hovey passed to his reward. Before that time, how- 
ever, he had the pleasure of having a number of the portions of the Commentary 
pass under his scrutiny, and of giving form to the general plan of the work. The 
publishers desire to bear testimony to the conscientious devotion of Doctor Hovey to 
this important enterprise, and to his increasing interest therein. In no small way 
the American Commentary on the Old Testament will be his lasting memorial, as 
is that on the New Testament. Since his death, by the direction of the Publica- 
tion Committee, the work has been in charge of the book editor of the Society, 
Philip L. Jones, d. t>., under whose supervision the various portions have been 
issued. 

The general plan of the Commentary provided for the printing of both the 
Authorized and the Revised versions at the top of the page, the portions to be 
commented on being taken from the former and printed throughout the work in 
black letter type, the latter, and independent translations, being used to get at the 
real meaning of the text. In one case, namely, that of Jeremiah, for reasons that 
appealed to the committee, an independent translation made by Professor Brown 
appears with the Authorized text instead of the Revised version. 

In outlining the general nature of the Introductions to the several books, and 
the comments thereon, the following principle was adopted by the general editor 
and the committee of the Society : " Preference shall be given to those views of 
the authorship of the biblical books which have been commonly accepted, unless 
they are modified by results of Christian scholarship that may be considered as 
fully established. No writer shall be asked to give as his own any interpretation 
which he does not approve." 

The line of action thus indicated has been followed throughout. Each writer 
has been accorded absolute freedom. On no other basis could the co-operation of 
the writers engaged have been secured, and on no other could the result aimed 
at, namely, the elucidation of the truth, have been attained. When the view of any 



PUBLISHERS' NOTE vii 



one of the writers at any point is called in question by the supervising editor, such 
comment is appropriately marked, while the portion challenged remains unchanged. 
We believe the policy of the Society thus outlined and followed will be generally 
approved. 

The plan followed of admitting to the comments both Hebrew terms and 
their transliteration may be questioned by some. It may be said that the scholar 
does not need the latter, while to the non-scholar neither is of any special service. 
This is true. But there are those into whose hands this work may come who 
belong to neither class. They are seminary graduates, it may be, who are im- 
mersed in the cares of an exacting pastorate. These crowd in between them and 
the Hebrew Bible and lexicon, pushing both more or less into the background. 
By way of reminder, and perhaps as a means of help, this dual feature may be 
not wholly ungrateful to such students. In the carrying out of this plan, the 
method of Dr. Wm. R. Harper has in the main been followed, though some writers 
of an older school have been less minute in their indication of the tone values of 
the Hebrew vowels. In this likewise each author has followed his own method. 
It is thought that no special confusion will arise from this fact, and that on the 
other hand the divergence may be an advantage. 

In conclusion it may be said that every effort has been made to produce the 
best work the highest scholarship of our denomination is capable of bringing forth. 
It is hcped that, as the several volumes appear, it will be seen that these efforts 
have not been in vain. The manifestation of the truth has been the goal that has 
been sought. Some one has said "there is a distinction between the search for 
truth with a bias, and the search for truth without it." To find the truth, the 
truth without bias — the truth as the divine Author communicated it through those 
whom he would employ, has been the aim of those engaged on this important work. 
May He who gave the word, and has watched over it, and has promised ever to be 
with it, that it may not return unto him void, bless this attempt to make it plain, 
and to exalt it to the place it should hold in the hearts and lives of men. 
Philadelphia, January 1, 1909. 



EXPLANATORY NOTE 



When my dear friend and colaborer Doctor Welton was smitten down by his 
last illness, his manuscript Commentary on Genesis needed some final revision, 
and to be compressed within the limits allowed by the publishers. The Introduction 
also had not been prepared when his pen dropped from his dying fingers. At his 
urgent request I gladly consented to do what I could to prevent his last labor from 
being lost to the world. Subsequently the American Baptist Publication Society 
asked me to undertake the completion of the work. In what I have done, I have 
been careful to enclose in brackets what I have added of my own, in order that 
Doctor Welton might not be made responsible for what he did not prepare. I am 
responsible for the following Introduction and the portions of the Commentary 
enclosed in this form [ ] of brackets. Doctor Welton is to be credited with the 
substance of the rest. 

C. Goodspeed. 



INTRODUCTION 



I. The Name Genesis. 

The Jews grouped all the books of the Old Testament under the main divisions: 
the Law, npfa, torah, the Prophets, WTO^ nebi'im, and the Writings, Dpirp, kethubim. 
The Law comprised the first five books ; the Prophets, Joshua, Judges, 1 and 2 
Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the twelve minor Prophets ; 
the Writings, the remainder of the Old Testament, including Daniel, Ezra, Nehe- 
miah, and 1 and 2 Chronicles. 

The Pentateuch, the designation of the first five books of the Bible, is the 
transliteration of the name given them in the Septuagint translation (v TrevTarevxos, 
sc, PtfAios) or the fivefold book or volume. In like manner the first book, called 
by the Jews rvEW*}3, bereshith, from its first word, was designated yeVeo-t?, Genesis, in 
the Septuagint, the Greek rendering of the Hebrew word flT^lfl, toledhoth, of 2 :4. 
This word, meaning generation or progeny, was thought to describe the contents of 
the book, and has been handed down as its name in our English Bible. 

II. Its Conception. 

Genesis is preeminently the book of origins and generations. After the ac- 
count of the origin of all things in 1 : 1 to 2 : 4a, its whole plan is genealogical. It 
is really an introduction to the history of the Hebrew people. It seeks to trace 
the relation of this race to the rest of the world, as its history roots itself down into 
that of mankind in general in that remote antiquity when families were springing 
from individuals derived from a single original pair, and these families were grow- 
ing into the early tribes and nations. As the background of human history, it 
depicts the relation of man to the lower orders of life, the relation of this life to the 
world, of the world to the universe, and of the universe to God ; as all that exists 
has come forth through his creative fiat and formative energy. Man, as the crown 
of all that was brought into being, gives unity to creation as its end. The spring- 
ing of all nations from a single ancestry unites mankind in a common brotherhood. 
Both man and nature having their origin in God constitute a system, a unity of which 
he is the source and center. The conception of Genesis is a grand one. 

Why the history of Israel should have a cosmogony as its introduction and 
background is not far to seek. It is to be a religious history. It is to embody 
divine laws. It is to trace God's method in the religious culture of a people until 
they were prepared to be the apostles of monotheism. The record, of the history 
itself, in its advancing stages, was to be one of the means of their training for this 
high purpose. To give a broad culture in religious thought, true ideas of God and 
of his relations to all things must be instilled. Especially must false notions of the 
origin of the universe be dispelled, and the personal might and majesty of the one 
true God be set over against the inanities of polytheism and pantheism. Because 

ix 



INTRODUCTION 



it was to be a religious history, it was also needful to explain the general sinful con- 
dition of mankind and Israel's special relation to the other tribes and nations. We 
have, therefoie, not only the direct line of Israel traced back to Adam, but also the 
beginning of general history, as reference is made to the ancestors of other peoples. 

III. Its Plan and Contents. 

The book covers four great eras : creation, the antediluvian world, the post- 
diluvian world until the birth of Abram, including a notice of the progenitors of 
other nations, the progenitors of the Israelites especially — Abram, Isaac, Jacob, 
and his twelve sons, particularly Joseph — to the end of the patriarchal age. When 
the curtain lifts at the beginning of Exodus, Israel has grown into a nation. 

Creation is outlined in 1 : 1 to 2 : 4a in its six progressive stages until man 
appears as its crown and lord. The succeeding history is genealogical, in which 
the incidents in the lives of patriarchs and in the early experiences of the race are 
fitted into their place in the ten generations which form the framework of Genesis, 
and give it coherency and unity. These generations are : (1) Of the heavens 
and the earth, chap. 2 : 4 to 4 : 26 ; (2) Of Adam, 5 : 1 to 6 : 8 ; (3) Of Noah, 
6 : 9 to 9 : 29 ; (4) The sons of Noah, 10 : 1 to 11 : 9 ; (5) Shem, 11 : 10-26 ; (6) 
Terah, 11 : 27 to 25 : 11 ; (7) Ishmael, 25 : 12-18 ; (8) Isaac, 25 : 19 to 35 : 29 ; 
(9) Esau, 36 : 1 to 37 : 1 ; (10) Jacob, 37 : 2 to 50 : 24. 

Under the first generation are given the fitting up of the garden of Eden for 
the abode of man, a more particular account of the creation of Adam and Eve, 
their life of innocence and communion with God in the garden, their temptation 
and fall, their expulsion with the promise of a deliverer, the awful outbreak of 
depravity in Cain, leading through jealousy to fratricide, and in Lamech to mur- 
der. Under the second, the increasing wickedness of the race is outlined through 
the intermarriage of the purer descendants of Seth with the evil stock of Cain, 
until, notwithstanding the godly example of Enoch and Noah, the race became so 
incurably bad that the only recourse was to sweep it off the earth. Under the 
third is narrated the building of the ark, through which Noah and his family are 
saved when the flood destroyed the rest of mankind, the covenant made with him 
no more to sweep away the race with a flood, the sin of Ham with the conse- 
quent curse upon his descendants, and the blessing upon Shem and Japheth. Under 
the fourth is given what has been called the genealogical table of the nations, and 
the confusion of tongues. The fifth is purely genealogical. Under the sixth the 
special history of the progenitors of the Israelites is begun, including the call of 
Abram, his coming to Canaan, his experience in Egypt, the separation from Lot, 
his defeat of the four kings, the long trial of his faith as to a son, the various . 
renewals of the covenant, the account of Hagar and the birth of Ishmael, the 
destruction of the cities of the Plain, with the sparing of Lot and his incest, the 
repetition of Abram' s subterfuge as to Sarah with Abimelech, the birth of Isaac, the 
supreme trial of his faith in the command to sacrifice him, the marriage of Isaac, 
and Abraham's second marriage and death. The seventh gives only the genealogy 
of Ishmael as being nearly related to the Israelites. The eighth, that of Isaac, nar- 
rates the birth of Jacob and Esau, the evil means taken by Jacob and Rebekah to 
secure the birthright and blessing of Isaac, the deceiving of Abimelech as to 



INTRODUCTION xi 



Rebekah, the flight of Jacob to Padan-ararn, his marriage, his prosperity, the birth 
of the twelve patriarchs, God's covenants with him, his return to Canaan after 
having made peace with Esau, the rape of Dinah, and the destruction of Shechem. 
The ninth, that of Esau, is strictly genealogical. The tenth, that of Jacob, 
gives the history of Joseph, leading to the settlement in Egypt, and the death of 
Jacob with his prophecy of the future of his children. 

IV. The Date and Authorship. 

1. It has been decided to consider the question of the authorship of Genesis in 
connection with that of the Pentateuch in which it is involved. In the brief space 
of this Introduction no attempt can be made to follow the discussion into its maze 
of microscopic details. By confining attention to the broader issues between the 
two chief schools of criticism, a juster judgment may perhaps be reached than by 
considering minutiae which are often better fitted to perplex than to enlighten. 

2. The Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch was accepted almost without dis- 
sent until the middle of the seventeenth century, when it was successively questioned 
for different reasons by Hobbes, Peyrere, Spinoza, LeClerc, and others, whether 
portions of it were not by another hand. The germ of the present documentary 
theory, of what is technically called the higher criticism, was planted by Astruc in 
1753. It was not, however, until the theory of evolution was applied to the religion 
of Israel by Reuss and Graf, and received the powerful support of Kuenen and 
Wellhausen, that the higher critical view became very generally accepted. Before 
proceeding, it will be necessary to give a brief summary of the general features of 
the two chief beliefs as to the authorship of the Pentateuch. 

3. The more conservative view holds to the Mosaic origin of the legislation of 
the Pentateuch and its Mosaic authorship in the broad sense that Moses was gen- 
erally responsible for it. It does not deny but asserts, in view of the fact that 
writing was in common use for centuries before Moses, that he used documents 
coming down from the past in the composition of Genesis. He may also have 
employed others to assist him. The most of those who hold this view also concede 
that notes and minor portions by later hands may have found a place in our present 
text. But the Pentateuch is trusted as giving a substantially true account of the 
events recorded and of the legislation, the Levitical preceding the Deuteronomic. 

4. Agreement is had among the more radical critics only along more general 
lines. The Hexateuch — the Pentateuch with Joshua added — is comprised of four 
chief documents with the additions of an indefinite number of redactors. The 
Jehovistic document, so called from its predominant use of Jehovah as the name of 
God, and designated J, and that called the Elohistic, from its use of Elohim for 
God, and designated E, were written somewhere between 900 and 750 b. c. and 
about a century apart, some thinking J the earlier and others E, while some sup- 
pose J to have been written in Israel and E in Judah, and others the reverse. 
They represented traditions which had come down from lip to lip from the centu- 
ries stretching back into the dimmest antiquity. These, after each had undergone 
several revisions, were united into one before 650 b. c. by a process of fusing and 
piecing together. In 622 b. c. the nucleus of Deuteronomy, which may have been 
prepared somewhat earlier, was given forth. It received various revisions and 



xii INTRODUCTION 



additions up to about 540 b. c, the middle of the exile, when it was combined with 
the united J E to form JED. About this time the nucleus of the legislation of 
Leviticus and Numbers consisting, the most hold, of Lev. chap. 17 to 26 was pre- 
pared in Babylon. This was fitted with a framework, partly historical and partly 
legislative, and had additions made to it by an indefinite number of writers ; it is 
called the Priest's Code, and designated P. This was brought by Ezra from Baby- 
lon in 458, but was not given forth until 444 b. c. (Neh. chap. 8). About forty years 
after, as J and E had been at first and then J E and D, this document and JED 
were combined to form J E D P, our present Hexateuch. The present tendency is 
to regard what men formerly thought distinct documents, each by its single author, 
as the work of schools of writers who wrought during indefinitely long periods. 
These are the general outlines of the two views which represent the two chief 
schools whose claims are to be considered. 

5. It must be remembered that the more radical criticism, rather more than 
the more conservative, depends wholly upon the Pentateuch itself in its connection 
with the Old Testament generally for all the facts upon which to build its theory of 
authorship. The first inquiry then is, what do the Pentateuch and the 0. T. 
writers say on this question ? As any one can see, all the legislation of the Penta- 
teuch is directly said to have been given through Moses. It is also in a historical 
setting which declares it given forth to Israel during his life. All the legislation of 
Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers is said to have been given on Sinai and during 
the subsequent sojourn in the wilderness. Many of the laws are said to have 
grown out of specific events. The Deuteronomic legislation is said to have been 
given by Moses in a farewell address on the plains of Moab. 

6. The Pentateuch also explicitly declares that Moses put some of it into 
written form. This comprises the Book of the Covenant, Exod. chap. 20 to 23 
(cf. 24 • 4) ; the form in which this covenant was renewed, Exod. 34 : 10-26 (cf. 
ver. 27) ; the Deuteronomic Code, including at least Deut. chap. 12 to 26, and 
probably chap. 1 to 31 (cf. 31 : 9) ; the Song of Moses, Deut. 32 : 1-43 (cf. 31 : 22); 
the sentence upon Amalek (Exod. 17 : 14) ; and the " goings out according to their 
journeys " of the Israelites during their forty years in the wilderness (Num. 33 : 2). 
Some scholars think the expression "wrote this law," Deut. 31 : 9, broad enough 
to cover the whole Pentateuch, 1 and that it may have been this whole book which 
Moses directed the Levites to place in the ark (Deut. 31 : 24-26). In Exod. 17 : 14 
"in a book " may be equally well rendered "in the book," and may instruct Moses 
to record this event in the book he was writing. At least Moses is regarded as the 
one best qualified to record what should be preserved. Doctor Briggs is not justi- 
fied, "High. Crit. Hexateuch," p. 10, in concluding that, because Moses was 
instructed to write down certain parts of the Hexateuch, he wrote only these ; may 
it not rather be concluded that he would record all that was of equal importance, 
and that the special command of Exod. 17 : 14 was to make sure that this should 
not be omitted. The whole history and the legislation are so interwoven that they 
give the definite impression of a common authorship. 

7. It is likewise conceded that the Mosaic origin and authorship of the Law 

1 Green, "Higher Crit. of the Pent.," p. 37, note; Bissell, "The Pent., its Orig. and Structure," p. 
51, note. 



INTRODUCTION xiii 



was the unchallenged and persistent belief of the Israelites as represented in the 
O. T. and their other writings during all their history. In the book of Joshua the 
Lord is represented as commanding Joshua to "observe to do according to all the 
law which Moses my servant commanded thee," and this law was in a written book 
which was copied (Josh. 1 : 7, 8 ; 8 : 31-35 ; 23 : 6). In Judges reference is made 
to "the commandments of the Lord which he had commanded their fathers by the 
hand of Moses" (3 : 4). In the book of Kings David is said to have exhorted 
Solomon "to keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his judgments, and his 
testimonies, as it is written in the law of Moses " (1 Kings 2 : 3, cf. 8 : 9, 53, 56, 
where the same belief is attributed to Solomon himself). This belief is said to have 
been held as a matter of course in the reigns of Joash, Hezekiah, Manasseh, and 
Josiah (2 Chron. 23 : 18 ; 2 Kings 14 : 6 ; 18 : 6 ; 21 : 8 ; 23 : 25). Ezra and 
Nehemiah are most emphatic (Ezra 3:2; 6 : 18 ; Neh. 8 : 1, 14 ; 9 : 13, 14) as 
are the authors of Apochryphal books (1 Esdras 1 : 6, 11 ; 7:6; Eccles. 24 : 23 ; 
Baruch 2 : 28 ; 2 Mac. 7 : 30). Philo and Josephus also declare the Mosaic author- 
ship of the law. So universal and unquestioned was this belief among the Jews 
that all non- Jewish writers who refer to their Law ascribe it to Moses. 1 Whether 
the 0. T. writers thought him the author of the whole Pentateuch will depend 
somewhat upon the time when it all came to be designated " the Law." 

8. Our Lord and N. T. writers also accepted the Mosaic origin and authorship 
of the whole legislation of the Pentateuch. Our Lord declares that "Moses gave 
the law " (John 7 : 19). John says, "the law was given by (or through) Moses " 
(John 1 : 17). Our Lord refers to various laws of the Pentateuch as being com- 
manded by Moses, not as exceptional, but because all were by him ; of the leper 
(Matt. 8 : 4), of divorce (Matt. 19 : 7, 8), of circumcision (John 7 : 23, 24), treat- 
ment of parents (Mark 7 : 10). The reader may be referred further to Luke 5 : 14, 
Heb. 7 : 14; 9 : 19, etc. The expressions "the law of Moses," "the book of 
Moses" so frequently used by N. T. writers do not mean, then, the law attributed 
to Moses or the book in which he is the chief personage, but the law or book he 
actually gave. As the whole Pentateuch was at this time designated "the Law," 
we can scarcely escape the conclusion that it was all attributed to him. This is 
not denied by the more radical critics, but the authority of our Lord in this realm 
is repudiated. As Kuenen put it, "We must either cast aside as worthless our 
dearly bought scientific method, or must forever cease to acknowledge the authority 
of the N. T. in the domain of the exegesis of the Old." 2 

9. The more recent archeological discoveries have thrown much light upon the 
question of the possibility or probability of the Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch. 

They have undeniably annihilated some objections. It was said by Wellhausen 
and others that Moses could not have composed the Pentateuch, because writing 
for literary purposes did not come into use until long after his day. But dis- 
coveries in Susa, Tel el-Amarna, Nippur, Crete, and elsewhere, show that all over 
Western Asia and in Egypt there was an extensive literature centuries before 
Moses ; that not only the nobles, but the men of business, the overseers of work- 
men, the wealthier farmers, petty sheiks, and even workmen were able to read and 

1 " Lex Mosaica," p. 41 ; Stanley Leathes, " The Law in the Prophets "; Rawlinson, " Hist. Evidences.'' 
2 " The Proph. and Prophecy in Israel," p. 487. 



xiv INTRODUCTION 



write ; and that in the age before Moses, Syria and Canaan were centers of literary 
activity. 1 Under these circumstances, for a man of such mark as to be able to 
impress himself upon the after ages as did Moses, to be unable to read and write, is 
almost inconceivable. The kindred objection as to the framing of a code of laws 
as early as the age of Moses, on the ground that nothing of the kind was then in 
existence, has also been swept away by the discovery of the Code of Khammurabi 
at Susa — a code which had been issued in the age of Abraham. "The codification 
of the law, therefore, was no new thing in the days of Moses. On the contrary, it 
was a very old thing in the history of Western Asia, a fact too, with which Abraham 
and Jacob must alike have been acquainted." 2 

10. It is also true that the fuller light on the conditions existing at the time has 
been in a remarkable manner confirmatory of the biblical account of the age of the 
patriarchs and of the exodus. The whole setting of Gen. chap. 14, which was once 
thought to stamp it a late fiction, has been found strikingly accurate. Amraphel 
and Arioch were the kings of the countries named in ver. 1 at the time of Abraham. 
While Chedorlaomer and Tidal have not been so certainly identified, the former is 
found to be an Elamite name, and the king of Elam before that time had conquered 
Babylon and the other countries named, and would be the leader in any earlier 
expedition. The sovereign of Elam about this time claimed lordship over Canaan. 
Amraphel later threw off subjection to Elam, and Babylon became supreme. Sayce 
and Gunkel regard Melchizedek as a real personage. Allusions to the Hittites 
which were thought to cast suspicion upon the historicity of the Pentateuch have 
been found to be correct. The Amorites and other tribes appear in the setting 
given in the Pentateuch. The time when the Israelites are said to have taken 
possession of Canaan was when neither Babylon nor Egypt had it under control — 
the only period when they could conquer it and grow to power without trying con- 
clusions with the overwhelming might of those great monarchies. 

11. The incidental allusions and local coloring of which the narratives of the 
Pentateuch are so full are also found by contemporary records, which have been 
disinterred, to be wonderfully accurate. It is noticeable that this is especially true 
of references to Egypt. To quote, the Pentateuch " touches on public and private 
matters, personal habits, customs of society, modes of living, the products, 
resources, and seasons of the country, the condition, occupations, food and drink 
of its inhabitants, to some degree their language, and other miscellaneous matters 
and implications." 3 It may be added that reference is made to the geography of 
Egypt, which was much changed before the date of the alleged post-Mosaic author- 
ship of the Pentateuch. All these references are woven into the texture of the 
narrative in the most natural way ; all have been confirmed even in their minute 
details by contemporary evidence, and old charges of errors swept away. 4 

12. There is also no small harmony between the account of the legislation and 
the general situation given in the history and learned from outside sources. A 
great host, disorganized and spiritless through long bondage, was to be consoli- 
dated into a nation. It was also soon to possess a land where it would be 

1 Sayce, "Monumental Facts," etc., pp. 8-43 ; " Higher Crit. and the Monuments," etc., p. 47 ; Petrie, 
" Researches in Sinai." 

2 " Monumental Facts," etc., pp. 70, 71. 3 Bartlett, "The Veracity of the Hexateuch," p. 86. 

4 Sayce, " Monumental Facts." 



INTRODUCTION xv 



surrounded by peoples who had for ages been under a code of laws which was 
steeped in polytheistic notions. If the Israelites were to be knit together into a 
people that would maintain its separate identity and its monotheism, it must 
be by organizing around a code of laws of its own, and which would put Jehovah 
in the place of the false gods of other peoples. Under these circumstances it is not 
strange that Moses should at once give them legislation, although he may have 
expected the stay in the wilderness to be short. As soon as possible the train- 
ing must begin to fit them to endure the various forms of stress which was soon to 
be upon them. It was also natural, as they were, about to enter Canaan, that 
Moses should modify and add to the old legislation to adapt it to the new conditions 
there, as in Deuteronomy is said to have been done. Especially did the situation 
demand, as never after, insistence upon a central sanctuary which is a marked 
feature of the Deuteronomic code. What better fitted to unify them and safeguard 
them against idolatry than to come together at a common center to worship 
Jehovah and keep his feasts ? 

13. What is the bearing of this mere outline of some of the more evident facts 
upon the question of the authorship of the Pentateuch ? Neither in the Pentateuch 
itself nor in the remainder of the 0. T. is it explicitly stated that Moses prepared 
either Genesis or all non-legislative portions of the whole Pentateuch, unless the 
phrase * the book of the law of Moses" was used as a designation of the whole 
Pentateuch. But this silence furnishes no argument against its authorship by him. 
Whenever the authorship of any portion of it is stated, it is always attributed to 
him. As early as when the authorship of the Pentateuch as a whole is mentioned, 
and ever after, Moses is declared to have prepared it. His authorship is ever 
spoken of in that matter-of-course way which makes it plain that the writers were 
but expressing the unquestioned belief coming down from the past. Many tradi- 
tions which, it was once thought, might be brushed aside almost contemptuously 
as utterly unreliable, have had a fashion of confirming their probability or histo- 
ricity in the face of attack ; witness those of the authorship of the Iliad and of the 
Gospels, and those about Menes and others. The consensus of tradition to the 
Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch cannot be lightly rejected. 

14. So far as evidence is at hand, the history of the patriarchs and of the 
Mosaic age is found true to the environment revealed by the contemporary history 
as unearthed by archeological research. While it may be said this evidence is not 
extensive, it is all on one side, and cannot be a mere coincidence between a narra- 
tive largely fictitious, and true history. Should a map be found of an unknown 
island, it would not require more than that here a cape, and there a bay, and yon- 
der a river be found to agree in place and outline with the chart, to be convinced of its 
general correctness. Most significant of all, in its bearing on the question of the au- 
thorship of the Pentateuch, is the minute accuracy of incidental allusions, details, 
etc. , as stated above in respect to Egypt and the desert of the exodus. Nowhere else 
are they quite so numerous and marked as here. And they are not attached to the 
surface of the narratives in an artificial way, but are woven in the most natural 
manner into their inner texture. It must also be remembered that literature was 
not in circulation and that communication between countries was comparatively 
scant. What was gained of accurate knowledge of the more minute setting of 



xvi INTRODUCTION 



events in the manners and customs, etc. , of a people must be chiefly by personal 
observation. Under these conditions, to give, if anything, more details and a richer 
local coloring in connection with what happened in Egypt and the desert of the 
exodus, is just what we should not expect a writer in Canaan, even in the age of 
Moses, much less centuries after, to attempt ; and did he do so, we should not 
expect him to escape blunders. We should expect that only a writer who had 
spent his life on the ground would even attempt to do this — a most difficult and 
delicate task at best — and it w r ould be only he who could accomplish it so that the 
numerous charges of inaccuracy made by the scrutiny of unfriendly criticism, 
should be found by the late discovery of contemporary evidence to prove only the 
ignorance of those who made them. But if we seem to be compelled to believe 
that the portions relating to Egypt and the desert of the exodus must have come 
down to us from one living in these lands, everything points to Moses as that 
one. He had spent his life there. He had had advantages which pecu- 
liarly fitted him for the work. In writing down or attending to the recording of 
the wonderful events in which he bore the chief part, he would be but following a 
familiar custom ; since in Egypt from long before his time, not only the kings, but 
many of the common people kept a record of the chief occurrences of their lives. 
Believing as he did, if our present Pentateuch has any historic basis, that the 
events were of religious and divine significance, he would have a motive, superadded 
to the custom of his training, to induce him to record them. It is true, the part 
of the Pentateuch whose theater is in Egypt and the desert of the exodus does not 
include the first thirty-eight chapters of Genesis ; but as these chapters are linked, 
both in alleged covenant as well as in the closest historical and literary connection, 
with what follows, whatever evidence there may be of the authorship of the latter 
covers that of the former as well. As the learned leader of Israel at the time when 
God's purposes were culminating, what more natural than that he should use the 
materials coming down from the remote past, and gather them along the line of 
their progressive development. All this would be in harmony with the tradition of 
his authorship of the Pentateuch which persisted ever after. It would also explain 
how the law which is directly ascribed to him is so intermeshed in the history as to 
appear inseparable and of the same authorship. Most of all, it would be in accord 
with the views of our Lord and the inspired teachers of the New Testament. All 
the lines of evidence from the whole Bible as we have it, from the Pentateuch 
itself, from the other books of the 0. T., from the attestations of archeological 
discovery, from the consistency of the legislation with the situation which is said to 
have called it forth, and from the testimony of our Lord and the N. T. converge 
upon Moses as the source of the Pentateuch, and its author in a broad but true 
sense. Before all this evidence should be rejected, a better explanation of the 
Pentateuch in view of all the facts involved ought to be found — one more self-con- 
sistent and one more inherently probable. Have we such a one in the complicated 
theory of the radical criticism ? 

15. All but the scholars of the most extreme radical wing accept the exodus 
as a historical fact and Moses as a real person. Both are impressed too deeply 
upon all the traditions of Israel to be thought fictions. What is alleged by more 
radical scholars to be the earliest traditions, as well as the later, regard Moses as 



INTRODUCTION xvii 



the great and authoritative teacher of Israel. This also is conceded, and is used 
to explain how all alleged subsequent legislation had to be put forth under his 
name to secure its acceptance. The one reason why Moses was thought to speak 
with authority was that he was thought to speak for God — his word and will. 
Waiving, for the present, the question whether the giving of some vague basis of the 
Decalogue, which is all a large part of the radicals will allow to him, would have 
sufficed to give him this supreme place, it would follow that his teachings would 
be thought sacred, authoritative, inviolable, and most precious. Possessing this 
boundless preeminence, they would be sharply distinguished from all others ; they 
would be devoutly studied, they would be taught to the people. Without doubt 
the spiritual leaders would be thoroughly familiar with them, especially if so few 
as alleged. To attempt to introduce other teachings as from him would be to court 
exposure, as well as to commit the greatest offense. For this very spiritual element 
to do this would seem a contradiction and a crime, even if it might be thought 
possible of success. 

16. All over this ground the theory of the radical critics is crowded with diffi- 
culties, no matter which one of its multiform variations may be adopted. Take 
that of the moderates who are disposed to concede to Moses the institution of the 
ark, the tent of meeting, and the beginning of a priesthood, although they deny 
to him all writing down of his legislation, unless it may perhaps be an indefinite 
substance of the Decalogue. With writing in common use as it had been for 
ages, and being acquainted with a code of laws centuries old, why did he leave the 
regulations about these institutions he thought from God at the mercy of human 
forgetfulness ? Driven from the old position that writing for literary purposes was 
not in use until long after Moses, can "the ascription of literary work of any 
kind " be denied him on the ground that he was "preeminently a man of affairs," 
and that "the strenuous nature of his activities as leader and organizer of the 
tribes of Israel left no opportunity for literary pursuits, " * as Doctor Harper and 
others say ? But how could the incoherent mass of people under him be organized 
into a distinct people unless around a code of laws of their own ? Was not this the 
imperative demand of the situation which could not be left to wait ? 

17. But the hypothesis of the radical criticism is not only that Moses did not 
record whatever instructions he received from God, except a moiety perhaps, but 
also that the teachings attributed to him and revered and thought sacred as a 
revelation from God, were carelessly left at the mercy of all the change and per- 
version incident to oral transmission, for about six hundred years, before any one 
thought of fixing them by putting them in written form, although writing was in 
common use, as it had been for centuries. Is not this very improbable, if not incred- 
ible? It is also conceded that J and E, which are said to include the earliest 
extant writings of Israel, belong to the "golden period of Hebrew literature." 2 
We wonder all the more how writing had been cultivated until its style had become 
most perfect, and no one, during all the lengthened period of literary activity which 
this presupposes, had thought of preparing a record of the past deeds and experi- 
ences of his own people, wonderful as they were thought to be, or of the traditions 
of the authoritative Mosaic legislation. 

1 " Com. Hosea and Amos," chap. 86. 2 Driver's " Int.," p. 124. 

B 



xviii INTRODUCTION 



18. But when the attempt was made after this age-long delay, and when 
literary culture was at its best, would the writer be apt to leave out any of the 
traditions, especially of what was thought the sacred deposit of reliable Mosaic 
teaching? Would he discriminate between what was thought equally invested 
with divine authority ? Would any other traditions of Mosaic teachings, thought 
unworthy of being recorded, survive very long especially in view of the fact that as 
soon as writing makes preservation by oral transmission unnecessary, it is less apt 
to be attempted, and unrecorded traditions are more readily forgotten? This 
alleged document, some think J, some E, is said to have been the center of much 
interest as revision after revision was made, involving an indefinite number of 
copies and a very definite knowledge by many people of the accepted legislation 
thought to be Mosaic and authoritative ; would not this be the surest safeguard 
against any new legislation being put forth under Moses' name ? 

19. Nevertheless, it is stated, that about a century after this first collection 
was made in one district of Israel, including, as one might expect, all the tradi- 
tions of Mosaic teaching thought genuine, a second collection is made in the other 
division of the land (which was in North and which in South Israel is disputed) of 
similar traditions which had persisted there during all this time. This means that, 
in a country not larger than the State of New Jersey, two divisions of the same 
race, with chief centers not fifty miles apart, had independent traditions of their 
common history and legislation ; that when the traditions of the one were recorded 
and revised, those of the other were ignored, and no one took the trouble to write 
them down until a century after ; and that the additions, in the later writing, to 
the accepted sacred deposit of teachings hitherto thought genuinely Mosaic, were at 
once accepted as from Israel's authoritative lawgiver, and the two documents soon 
after were united into one. 

20. Now, at least, one might suppose, especially in view of the revisions the 
documents are said to have received, all traditions of divine legislation through 
Moses thought worthy of preservation would be embodied, and that there could be 
no further discovery of accredited teaching from him, and no possibility of palming 
off any other teaching under his name. But the central pillar of the radical 
criticism is that the " book of the law" found in the temple (2 Kings 22 : 8) in 
Josiah's reign in the year 622 b. c. w r as the central portion, at least, of Deuteronomy, 
which was now first put forth. This contained much legislation not found in the 
indefinitely revised J E. Its chief feature also was the forbidding of worship on 
"high places" which J E is said to have declared Moses expressly permitted, and 
the requiring of all to worship at the central sanctuary at Jerusalem. But although 
this new code gave much legislation not contained in J E, which up to this time 
was thought to include all that was genuinely Mosaic, and some even that contra- 
dicted it, although, also, it imposed the burden of worshiping at Jerusalem rather 
than at local sanctuaries, king, nobles, and the more pious Israelites all accepted 
it without question as from their authoritative lawgiver, and the people acquiesced. 
No one took the pains to inquire for the credentials of the new claimant for Mosaic 
and divine authority. They did not seem to have any trouble over the question as 
to how contradictory legislation could all be from the same divine source. Neither 
can it be supposed that the persecutions of Manasseh had put the old permission 



INTRODUCTION xix 



of worship on high places so out of mind that contradictory legislation would not 
be noticed. Besides the J E legislation and document generally did persist accord- 
ing to the radical criticism ; for it was afterward, as is said, united with D [Deuter- 
onomist] into one document, JED. 

21. The chief difficulty in connection with the conception of the legislation of 
the Pentateuch advanced by the radical criticism remains. During the century 
intervening between 540 and 444 b. c, the leaders of the Jews in exile in Babylon, 
it is said, had been preparing a new code of laws, exceeding in extent and minute- 
ness anything yet put forth, and representing a reaction from the broad prophetic 
spirit of the Deuteronomic code into a narrow legal formalism. The radical critics 
suppose they can outline the progress of this work as section after section is added, 
although they differ widely in their conception of its details, until it is completed 
and brought by Ezra to Jerusalem. At a great assembly there, this new code is for 
the first time proclaimed. It is with the utmost solemnity declared to be "the 
book of the law of Moses" (Neh. 8 : 1), which "the Lord had commanded by 
Moses" (ver. 14). The people at once receive it as from him and invested with 
the divine authority associated with his name, although imposing unheard-of 
burdens in tithes and sacrifices and feasts and, as is alleged, in flat contradiction 
to mu,ch of the old in precept as well as spirit. Again the whole transaction seems 
full of insoluble mystery. How was it possible to accept enactments in direct con- 
flict in spirit and provision as equally from God through Moses? Were there 
none in Israel representing the broad and spiritual prophetism of the immediate 
past to protest against the attempt to substitute for it this narrow and formal 
legalism in the name of Moses? Were there none to inquire, Where have these 
new teachings of Moses been discovered, if hitherto unknown, and why were they 
not published before, if known by those introducing the new legislation ? It might 
well be thought that superabundant evidence would have been demanded of their 
Mosaic and divine authority, when the people were required by them to shoulder 
such new and grievous burdens, and especially as they were asked to do so in the 
interest of their salvation, as they conceived this to be. 

22. Difficulties similar to those involved in the radical critics' conception of 
the origin of the law, confront us when that of the historical part of the Penta- 
teuch is examined. As in case of the former, it is hard to believe, when writing 
was in common use and when it had been long the custom in adjacent lands to 
record even ordinary events, that no one attempted to write down the traditions of 
Israel, although thought to contain marvels of divine activity, until about six 
hundred years after Moses. But allow that J and E, as alleged, gathered up the 
traditions of Israel's past as current in both Judah and Israel six or seven hun- 
dred years after Moses, allow that each was carefully revised several times, new 
matter added and then united and perhaps further revised, the reasons for the re- 
visions could only be to include the traditions thought reliable and to exclude those 
that were not. It would seem that there could be little if anything left that would 
not soon be forgotten, when there was scant need of passing even reliable traditions 
on from lip to lip. The learned leaders of Israel could scarcely fail to look upon 
this carefully prepared record as the one sacred and authoritative account of God's 
past dealings with their nation. How comes it then, that a century or two after, a 



xx INTRODUCTION 



historical setting is given the Deuteronornic Code? How comes it especially that 
about four hundred years later, or about one thousand years after Moses, a more 
elaborate history beginning with the creation, is woven around and into the legisla- 
tion put forth first by Ezra ? Whence was it derived ? Was a great body of tradi- 
tion which had escaped the learned authors of J E and D, or which they had not 
sifted and rejected, still floating around? How came the leaders who might be 
expected to have accepted as authoritative JED which had been prepared through 
centuries of revising, to receive this new history, much less put it forth themselves ? 

But the difficulty grows as we accept farther statements of the radical criticism. 
It is said that the accounts of creation, of the flood, of incidents in the life of 
Joseph and of the patriarchs, and of the exodus in this latest writing, P, are con- 
tradictory in many of their features to these same as given in the earlier documents 
J and E or the combined J E. These learned leaders, then, must still have found 
traditions floating around of what happened from one thousand to three thousand 
years before, notwithstanding what is urged above. Although these traditions had 
not been thought worthy of being embodied in the recognized and carefully pre- 
pared records of Israel's past ; although, since these records were written, those 
floating traditions had added to the unreliability which prevented their preserva- 
tion by previous historians — the distortions and perversions which from two hun- 
dred to four hundred years of passing from lip to lip would make inevitable ; 
although, as was to be expected and as the radical critics allege, they are in con- 
flict in so many particulars with the received written records, nevertheless these 
learned leaders sent them forth as authoritative and true, and worthy to form the 
historical background for their legislation ! 

But the difficulty has not yet reached its climax. It is said that the object of 
the historical setting given to each successive code of laws was to throw it back into 
the age of Moses, in order that the people might accept it as invested with his au- 
thority. But to associate this authority with his name, the people must have been 
acquainted with the previous history which gave him this high place, as we might 
also well expect, after hundreds of years had passed, as is conceded, since this history 
had been prepared. How then, could the leaders expect the people to accept a new 
code of laws contradicting much of the received legislation, because enveloped in 
a new history which also contradicted much of that long accepted ? The radical 
critics assume to point out many of these contradictions, even after various redactors 
are said to have sought to harmonize them. As first put forth, then, they must 
have been too glaring to escape notice. Were the leaders of Israel likely to 
commit such folly, or the people so infatuated as to be deceived by it ? They even 
give to the new Priest's code a historical setting earlier than that of the Deuter- 
onornic, and thus actually make the older code historically supersede the new one 
which was to take its place ? And yet, it is said, the people, because of a history 
in conflict with what they had long accepted as true, bowed their necks to a new 
and burdensome code contradictory in spirit, and in many of its provisions, to that 
hitherto accepted as divine and authoritative. Surely such an implication carried 
with it its own defeat. 

23. The modifications of the older views to meet these and other objections 
do not seem satisfactory. Doctor Driver, for instance, after giving as the chief 



INTRODUCTION xxi 



argument for the exilic or post-exilic date of the Priest's Code, that "the pre-exilic 
period shows no indications of the legislation of P as being in operation," 1 never- 
theless says ' ' the chief ceremonial institutions of Israel are in their origin of great 
antiquity ; but that the laws respecting them were gradually developed and elabo- 
rated, and, in the shape in which they are formulated in the Priest's Code, that they belong 
to the exilic or post-exilic period." 2 It is a little hard to see how institutions 
could exist prior to the laws regulating them. Then how are these laws regulating 
their practice gradually developed and elaborated? Can you develop a rule in 
reference to sacrifice, for instance ? The only way in which these vague words can 
have definite meaning seems to be that the laws or rules regulating these institu- 
tions were increased in number or new ones substituted for the old. And here 
one is faced by the old difficulty in intensified form. If, continually, for from about 
900 b. c. to 444 b. a, additional regulations, all claiming to be Mosaic and authori- 
tative, were put forth, how could the question be answered, why, if this great 
reserve of Mosaic teaching, sufficient to give new regulations for centuries, has 
existed, was it not given out in bulk and not dribbled out ? How also could the 
new, much of which was in contradiction to the old, be thought equally from 
Moses? Then what about the Mosaic historic setting which was put around 
each new code ? If gradually put forth and received as Mosaic, the later Mosaic 
setting given the whole would not only be needless — it would be out of the ques- 
tion. The people would know that, as a historical fact, much of it, at least, had 
been introduced in post-Mosaic and recent times. Also, if the new rules, when 
published, represented the preexisting temple usage, 3 then this preexisting usage 
would either make itself manifest in the previous history, which is denied, or a 
practice might exist and the history not mention it. The argument from silence 
would then be untenable, and thus the great support of the theory of the dates of 
the different codes would drop out. Neither does it seem possible to discover that 
the separate regulations were earlier introduced into the practice, but that they 
were not gathered up into codified and written form until the dates assigned. 
Whether codified or disjointed, if in practice, they would equally have been mani- 
fested in the history of Israel, and no critic could discern the difference from the 
record. It is a delicate task to show from a single piece of history that certain 
definite laws did not come into force until an assigned date, because prior to that 
the history was silent about them, and then, in order to meet objections, find out 
from this very silent history that they had come gradually into use, in some vague 
way and for the most part, before that time. 

The view now growing in favor, that JEDP was the work of schools of writers, 
but intensifies the difficulties just noticed and adds new perplexities of its own. 
This assumes that a large number of men w T ere engaged for a long period — some 
say for a century — collecting and sifting the traditions of Mosaic teaching and of 
the history of their ancestors. How came it to take so many for so long a time to 
do this work which is embodied in so small a record ? How, after all this careful 
work, could anything be left to engage the attention of another large school of 
scholars for another long period? Would the first school have left out anything 
thought worthy of a place in their record? If not, did the second school gather 

i "Int. to Lit. of O. Test.," p. 129. 2 Ibid., p. 135. » ••Ibid,," p. 135. 



xxii INTRODUCTION 



up the chaff which the first had winnowed out with such prolonged care ? Above 
all, how could there have been material, after the first and second schools had done 
their work, for a third, and after the third, for a fourth to gather up into docu- 
ments? Besides, how could traditions keep on concurrently with successive 
written records, notwithstanding all this labor and care to gather them? Besides, 
if so many had been engaged upon each succeeding document, not only the leaders 
but many of the common people must have been well acquainted with these records. 
This makes the assumption that the historical setting of the later legislation was 
given in order to lead the people to accept it as Mosaic incredible. Men must have 
united in the design to deceive the people ; and it is beyond credence that they, 
with all the knowledge so many must have had, could have been made to believe 
the new legislation Mosaic, because of a history which contradicted, in many par- 
ticulars, that which they knew had been prepared with age-long care. Can this 
theory of schools be made to square with any conceivable historical situation ? 

24. Another difficulty arises when we attempt to explain, on the theory of the 
radical criticism, the truth of the Pentateuch as to its general historical setting and 
in its local coloring and incidental allusions as revealed by archeology. (See 10, 11). 

It is admitted that no task is more delicate and difficult for a historian 
than to give to the events of a former age their exact local coloring and their 
setting in the manners, customs, and related history of their time, even when 
official documents and books of reference are at hand. That this minute accuracy 
in what is most difficult has been attained in the Pentateuch is undeniable. A 
fine testimony to this is the theory of Maurice Vernes to account for it. He 
imagines the company of post-exilic scholars to whom he credits the Hexateuch, 
after conference, assigning to each one the portion of the book to which he was 
the best fitted to give the appropriate setting and local coloring. 1 Is accuracy, under 
such circumstances, conceivable on the assumptions of the radical criticism ? Even 
for the events of the Mosaic age, almost sole dependence is said to have been had 
upon traditions which had floated down orally for from six to ten centuries. These 
traditions were not subject merely to the perversions due to ordinary forgetfulness 
and carelessness during so long a period of oral transmission ; each writer, in 
recording them, had his bias, which led him still further to pervert his already 
perverted material. Notwithstanding all this, when the work of four chief, and 
an indefinite number of other writers, some in Canaan and some in Babylon, and 
covering a period of about four hundred years, is pieced and merged into our 
present Pentateuch, it is found to bear the contemporary light which has been 
thrown upon its casual and minute allusions by archeology, and objections and 
charges of inaccuracy have been dispelled. Truth as to the special conditions of 
ages long past seems impossible under the conditions imagined by the radical 
criticism. 2 Well may Kittel admit that to preserve accuracy in documents pre- 

1 "Les Resultats de VExegese Biblique," p. 50 f. See Kuenen's " Hex.," p. 38. 

2 " The noteworthy fact is that the evidence brought to light in the last half-century has all gone one 
way. Palestine exploration, the disinterring of Egyptian remains, and the opening out of the ruinous 
heaps of Assyria, Babylonia, and Persia have spoken with consentient voice. They utter their joint 
testimony to the historical character of the Hebrew writings. Would this have been the case, however, 
if the material from which these books were written had been late fabrications?"— Canon Girdlestone, 
" The Foundations of the Bible," pp. 101, 102. 



INTRODUCTION xxiii 



pared and united at later dates is " almost impossible," especially as the 
Egyptological element "must belong to the core of the narrative." 1 The most 
reasonable conclusion is that the events occurred and were recorded before the 
perversions of oral transmission had made this accuracy, where it is most difficult, 
impossible. 

I can make but the merest reference to what is implied in the accuracy above 
referred to. If this is found to hold in connection with details and the general 
setting where it would be least likely to be attempted by late writers, and impossible 
of attainment, were the attempt made, might we not expect that the history with 
which these allusions are connected would also be substantially true and not, on 
its face, give an altogether false account of Israel's religious development, as the 
radical criticism holds ? And might we not be justified in conceding to the stories 
of the patriarchs much more than is conceded by Dr. G. A. Smith when, after say- 
ing "It is extremely probable, however, though incapable of proof, that the stories 
of the patriarchs . . . have at the heart of them historical elements," he goes on 
to say, "On the present evidence, it is impossible to be sure of more than that 
they contain a substratum of actual personal history," reducing, apparently, the 
historicity of these stories to a substratum of which he is sure without proof, but 
in view of which he can exclaim, "Who wants anymore, and who needs any 



more 



25. But the greatest difficulty, because a moral one, remains. If nothing 
more were claimed or demanded by the theory of the radical criticism than that 
laws not originating with Moses were put forth under his name as the recognized 
authoritative lawgiver of Israel, and because they were thought to be but the 
further elaboration of principles he enunciated in view of new conditions, the 
difficulty might not be insuperable. But much more than this is involved in this 
theory. However it may be with the legislation in J E, that of D and P are said 
to have had histories woven into and around them each eight hundred and a 
thousand years respectively, after Moses, to give the impression that all the laws 
were really given by Moses. In the legislation as a whole, and in reference to 
most of the laws, not merely are they attributed to Moses in a general way, but 
the time and place and circumstances of their being issued are mentioned. It is 
also stated that to some extent the authors of D, and to a greater degree those of 
P, actually touched up the older history to make it appear that these later codes 
had been in force in earlier times. 

Take the Deuteronomic Code : The first sentence declares, "These be the 
words which Moses spake unto all Israel." The exact place is mentioned, 
and the year, month, and very day on which he spoke are indicated. In 
the midst of his address he is represented as rehearsing the Decalogue and 
as interjecting his legislation between his reminiscences of their history under 
his leadership. It is even stated that Moses wrote this legislation down and 
delivered it to the sons of Levi (31 : 9). All the legislation is said to be 
given in view of their entrance into Canaan, which was about to take place. 
"This shall ye do in the land whither ye go to possess it" is repeated in various 
forms as many as forty-five times (5 : 33 ; 6 : 1, 3, 10-12, 18 ; 7 : 1, 2, 13, 17-26, 

1 "Hist, of the Hebrews," Vol. I., p. 188. 



xxiv INTRODUCTION 



etc.). Much of the legislation had reference to a change from pastoral to agri- 
cultural conditions. The central sanctuary is said not yet to have been chosen 
(12 : 5, 11, 18, 21 ; 16 : 2, 16, etc.). Laws are also given for the extermination 
of the Canaanites and the choice of a king. Now, if the Deuteronomic Code was 
not issued until about eight hundred years after Moses, what was the purpose of 
this exceeding care to give it all a setting in his age ? Why especially the intro- 
duction of laws for conditions long since past ? From the account in 2 Kings 22, 
which is said to refer to the first promulgation of this code, Josiah and Huldah, 
and the rulers and people regarded it as coming down from the remote past, for 
they all seem to have shared in the belief of the king when he said, "Great is the 
wrath of the Lord which is kindled against us : because our fathers have not heark- 
ened unto the words of this book," etc. He assumed that the fathers had known 
these laws and had broken them, showing that, on the assumption of the radical 
criticism, the setting of the new legislation in the long past had deceived him. It 
is also to be noted that it was the very legislation against the high places and 
insisting upon worship at a central sanctuary, which is said to be the new and 
characteristic feature of this code, which he thought their fathers had violated, as 
his subsequent action (chap. 23) shows. With the Priest's Code it is rather worse, 
on the assumption of the radical criticism. Men one thousand years after Moses 
allege that a tabernacle was constructed by him. The preparation for it ; the gifts of 
the people ; the various materials for it ; its furnishings ; the name and pedigree of 
its architects ; the provisions for its transportation and its actual construction are all 
described in the most circumstantial way and in the most minute detail, although 
it was all an invention, or that all that existed was a simple tent. This elaborate, 
but fictitious structure is made the center of all the ritual of the new code, and 
the center also of the Israelites on the march and when encamped. Every law is 
not only said to have been given by Moses, but all are made to have originally 
had definite reference to the camp, Aaron and his sons, or to events of the wilder- 
ness wandering ; Moses is even made to utter prophecies which are really post 
eventum statements of the authors of the Priest's Code put into his lips (e. g., Lev. 
26 : 33). As in case of Deuteronomy, so in that of the Priest's Code, the people 
thought the legislation actually given by Moses as specified, and accepted it as 
authoritative for that reason. Neither did the authors of either seek to disabuse 
their minds of this false impression. If Deuteronomy and the Priest's Code were 
not sent forth till eight hundred and a thousand years after Moses, is it possible to 
face the facts and not believe their authors guilty of more than a "pious fraud" ?* 
But it is held that men of the prophetic order, like Ezekiel, Jeremiah, and Isaiah, 
were responsible for Deuteronomy, and that the spiritual elite of Israel during the 
captivity, like Ezra and Nehemiah, put forth the Priest's Code. Can we believe 

1 Colenso, Graf, Reuss, Kuenen, Wellhausen, Cheyne, and many other radical critics think it a 
" pseudograph " or forgery, although some of them seek to reduce the immorality of the transaction as 
much as possible. Professor Naville, an archeologist of the highest repute, is convinced he has found 
proof that it was the custom in Egypt to place copies of sacred books under the foundations of temples— a 
custom which the Israelites might well have followed when Solomon's temple was built. Professor 
Naville has "no hesitation," in opposition to the view that the "finding" was a "pious fraud," "in 
giving to the passage (2 Kings 22 : 1-8) this interpretation : in Josiah's time the Book of the Law was 
discovered in the foundation of Solomon's construction." " Proceedings of the Society of Biblical 
Archeology," 1907. 



INTRODUCTION xxv 

that the men who lifted the religion of Israel out of idolatry to its pinnacle of 
moral and religious supremacy would be guilty of what was even questionable ? 
To allege that men of this class would do what needs apology is to misrepresent 
and insult them. This difficulty cannot be met by the easy assumption of a 
tradition of an address by Moses in the Arabah of Moab as a foundation for Deu- 
teronomy, and of a genuine traditional basis underlying the Priest's Code; 1 for it 
comes in conflict with various aspects of the radical theory. Even the more 
moderate of its representatives, like Doctor Harper, concede to Moses only "the 
institution of the tent of meeting as the dwelling-place of the Deity, together with 
the ark, and the beginning of a priesthood," 2 while others would deny his exist- 
ence and regard the Mosaic period as put out of the world (Duhm) ; the "genuine 
traditional basis " being only genuine as a tradition, while false to fact. 

How then came this tradition of Mosaic teachings, which were never given, 
to originate? How came this alleged basis of the Deuteronomic legislation and his- 
tory to escape the attention of the authors of J and E as they were gathering up 
the traditions of Moses and his legislation in North and South Israel ? How came 
it to escape that of the various redactors or even schools of writers who are sup- 
posed* to have continued the work? Why, especially, was not the genuine tra- 
ditional basis of P not embodied in these or in D, but persisted for two hundred 
years longer before it was recorded? (See also sec. 18 seq.) Theories holding that 
traditions, for the most part untrue to fact, originating no one knows how, and 
thought worthy of being made the basis of great legislative codes, although deemed 
unworthy of a place in the written records of Israel for two hundred and four hun- 
dred years respectively, of intense literary activity, illustrate at least the ease with 
which assumptions may be made, however little the thoughtful student may be 
helped who desires reasons rather than hypothetical statements. 

26. It must also be remembered that the prophetic class, to which Deuteronomy 
is ascribed, did not need to put forth legislation under the name of Moses to give it 
authority. The people had already come to recognize the prophet as God's mes- 
senger. The prophets ever gave forth their messages, not on the authority of 
Moses, but on that of their call from God. Is it probable that they would depart 
from their otherwise invariable practice to do what, to say the least, would be 
morally questionable ? To do this, when the chief provision of the new legislation 
would thus be made to forbid in the name of Moses what, as is alleged, Moses had 
expressly permitted, would be to add folly to sin. 

27. The Deuteronomic legislation which is said to have abrogated, in the name 
of Moses, what had been practised on his authority from time immemorial ; the 
Priest's Code which is thought, in the name of Moses again, to have displaced this 
Deuteronomic legislation after it had been enforced by his authority for two hun- 
dred years ; the successive histories woven around these succeeding codes to 
recommend them to the people, although each is in conflict with what were thought 
to be the sacred records of the past, etc., etc., were not brought forward and 
pushed off in secret, but the manipulation was all accomplished, if accomplished 
at all, in the open light of day before the faces of a shrewd and wide-awake 
people, including some of the best and the ablest men of the time. Do not the 

* Driver's " Introduction," pp. 85, 120. 2 « Hosea and Amos," p. 86. 



xxvi INTRODUCTION 



most of the very men to whom scholarship is indebted for great service in the 
application of the historical method to the study of the Bible, violate their own 
principles when they ignore the difficulties and inconsistencies which crowd up at 
every step, as soon as the radical hypothesis as to the dates of the various alleged 
documents of the Pentateuch is considered in connection with the living situation 
it makes necessary ? It may help us to see the inherent incredibility of the com- 
plex theory of the radical criticism, to imagine how, e. g., four variant and often 
conflicting accounts of Paul's life and teaching could have been successively and 
without question received, had all been left to oral transmission for more than six 
hundred years or until the age of Charlemagne, when the first written record was 
made, the three others being centuries apart, the last being made in the age of 
William the Conqueror. 

28. These difficulties which invest the general conclusions of the radical criti- 
cism as to the post-Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch cannot be removed by any 
arguments for them based upon a microscopic examination of its style and contents. 
They lie against the conclusions themselves, irrespective of any grounds urged in 
their favor. In this brief Introduction I can give but general attention to some of 
the chief of them, and refer the interested reader to more complete discussions in 
larger works, and to the consideration given to some of the more minute criticisms 
in the body of this commentary. 

29. It is stated that from Genesis to the end of Joshua, three documents (in 
some places four) run either intermittently or concurrently, thus putting the author- 
ship of the documents themselves as well as that of their coming together, indefi- 
nitely later than the Mosaic age. Chief dependence for this theory has generally 
been placed upon the use of the divine names. But notwithstanding the adjust- 
ments and readjustments of a century and a half, in order to make the names fit 
the theory, Elohim is found in the Jehovah document in Genesis twenty-six times 
(Gen. 3 : 1, 3-5 ; 4 : 25 ; 16 : 13 ; 21 : 33 ; 24 : 3 (twice), 7, 12, 27, 42 ; 26 : 24 ; 
27 : 20 ; 28 : 13 (twice) ; 32 : 9 (twice), 28, 30 ; 39 : 9 ; 43 : 23 (twice), 29 ; 44 : 7, 
16, 17). In four cases Elohim is found in J 1 (6 : 2, 4 ; 9 : 26, 29) ; in twenty cases 
Elohim is cut out from J and ascribed to a redactor in chaps. 2 and 3. In five 
cases sentences are excerpted from J merely because they have Elohim in them and 
are attributed to E or P or a redactor (19 : 29 (twice) ; 27 : 28 ; 30 : 22 ; 33 : 5, 11). 
In sixteen cases passages are cut out from one document and assigned to another 
or to a redactor, because they contain its characteristic divine name (Gen. 5 : 26 ; 
7 : 16 ; 19 : 29 ; 20 : 18 ; 21 : 1, 33 ; 22 : 14-18 (four times) ; 27 : 28 ; 30 : 24, 27 ; 
31 : 3 ; 33 : 5, 11). (Bissell, "Gen. in Colors.") Seventy-three exceptions to about 
one hundred and fifty instances in support of the theory of documents correspond- 
ing to the use of the divine names, may well arouse questioning. In any case, 
it is admitted that this argument for the theory of documents drops out almost 
altogether from Exod. chap. 3. The advocates of the substantial Mosaic author- 
ship concede that there doubtless were documents coming down from ante-Mosaic 
times, and have no reason to deny that there may be traces of them in Genesis. 
The more radical critics concede that there must have been a discriminating use of 
the divine names (e. g., Kuenen), and refer us to it to account for many of the 
cases where other than the characteristic divine name is found in the alleged docu- 



INTRODUCTION xxvii 



merits. Other cases they do not attempt to explain. May not all the cases of 
the use of the divine names for which no discriminating rule can be given be left 
to enlarge this last class, rather than to make them the basis for a theory which, 
while having much in its favor, is beset with difficulties ? Would a writer be apt 
to use the divine names discriminatingly in some cases and without discrimination 
in others, as is supposed? May we not rather suppose that the author or authors 
had reasons in all cases for their use of them, and that we are perplexed because we 
know the grounds for their use of only a part of them ? 

30. But it is said that there are criteria of style which prove the existence of 
the continuous documents from Genesis to Joshua, independent of that from the use 
of the divine names. The difference between J and E in style is admitted to be 
small. Doctor Driver concedes that "stylistic criteria alone would not generally 
suffice to distinguish J and E." Even with the added criterion of the use of the 
divine names, there are many sections where the two are conceded to be indis- 
tinguishable. Even where they are thought distinguishable, there are many 
sections where it has to be assumed that a section has been dropped out from one 
which was substantially the same as that taken from the other to supply its place, 
and ttiat both have parallel accounts of the same incidents in the lives of the 
patriarchs, from Gen. chap. 20 to the end. Does it seem probable that two inde- 
pendent records of the traditions of the past, prepared, the one in North and the 
other in South Israel and a century apart, would, when fused and pieced together, 
unite to make a coherent narrative ? Is not this more difficult of belief than that a 
single writer prepared a history from preexisting materials, although we may be 
compelled to concede that we do not know, in every case, his reasons for his use of 
one divine name rather than the other? 

In the case of P it must be kept in mind that it is made to include the narra- 
tive of creation (Gen. 1 : 1 to 2 : 4a), almost all the genealogies, the exact statements 
of time, nearly all the ritual legislation, and little else, while J and E in Genesis, 
where they are thought to be most certainly traced, are chiefly stories of the 
patriarchs. This difference in subject-matter accounts for much of the diversity 
of style and phraseology. Only the portions of J, E, and P on similar subjects can 
be justly compared as we inquire whether there are variations of style and phrase- 
ology inconsistent with single authorship. If this rule were observed, a large pro- 
portion of the criteria of P would drop out. Neither can it be denied that alleged 
characteristic words and phrases are made marks of a document in the most artificial 
and arbitrary way. In Gen. chap. 7 alone, five instances occur of attributing to 
the redactors what are said to be characteristics of P found in J — (ver. 3) ''male and 
female"; (ver. 8) "there went in two and two," "male and female," "God" 
(ver. 23b) ; "both man, and cattle, and creeping thing, and the fowl of the heaven ; 
and they were destroyed from the earth," and one where (ver. 17) "forty days" is 
found inconveniently in P. Also the clause "the Lord shut him in" is cut out of 
a P section and ascribed to J, because it contains Jehovah, and ver. 12 and 17b 
are treated in the same way for other reasons. 

One more illustration out of multitudes must suffice. The use of " Israel " as 
the name of the patriarch is said to be characteristic of J, while E uses "Jacob" 
after Gen. chap. 35. The name "Israel" in this part of Genesis occurs twenty- 



xxviii INTRODUCTION 



four times. In three of these (46 : 2 ; 48 : 11, 21) the word " Israel " is credited to 
K because found embedded in sections which other criteria compel the radical 
criticism to attribute to E. In one case (45 : 21) the passage containing this name, 
although in an E paragraph, is given to R. In five cases (45 : 28 ; 46 : la ; 48 : 2b, 
8a, 10a) the clause containing the name is cut out from E and attributed to J. 
In 49 : 1 on the other hand, "And Jacob called unto his sons " is attributed to P, 
although there is nothing else credited to it from 48 : 6 to 49 : 28, merely because 
it contained the name Jacob in a J connection. When exceptions in the ratio of 
ten to fourteen have arbitrarily to be gotten rid of, the criterion is surely a manu- 
factured one. Comparing J, E, and P, narrative portion with narrative portion, 
ritual legislation with ritual legislation, etc., and leaving the words and phrases 
arbitrarily displaced in the alleged documents to those in which they naturally 
belong, it is very doubtful whether there is greater diversity of style and ex- 
pression than may be found in different portions of almost any author's writings. 
The ease with which most of the books of the Old Testament and some of the 
New have been split up, when the same methods are applied, lends countenance 
to the charge that the process is, for the most part, at least, an artificial one. 

31. The exigencies of the composite theory of the Hexateuch have also 
required an increasing number of J, E, and P writers and of redactors, until now 
the tendency is to regard J and E, if not P, as the works of schools of writers. 1 
Can it be soberly believed that schools of learned Israelites in successive generations 
would sacrifice their varied individuality as writers to conform to minute peculiari- 
ties of style and expression which are said to distinguish J, E, and P ? The claim to 
be able, with such general assurance, to disentangle documents prepared in this 
way even after they have been severally gone over by redactors, and then merged 
and knit together piece by piece, and then again revised an indefinite number of 
times, does not help to accredit the theory. The fact that those who make this 
claim about writings in a dead language with no other productions from their 
authors, have been utterly unable to distinguish, in the simplest composite work of 
two voluminous English writers, the parts belonging to each, has a weighty bearing 
upon the question. Many of the alleged instances of duplications and conflicting 
narratives urged in favor of the documentary theory are treated in the body of this 
commentary. Only a few general considerations can be referred to here. Repeti- 
tions and duplicate statements are found in portions assigned to the same docu- 
ment. For instance, the begetting of the sons of Noah is given twice in P (Gen. 
5 : 32 ; 6 : 10), as is the corruption of the earth (6 : 11, 12). The repenting of 
Jehovah is found twice in J (6 : 6, 7), as is the denial of wives (12 : 10-20 ; 26 : 6- 
12), thought to refer to a single incident. If a number of instances of duplicates 
is consistent with the same authorship, may not many others be equally so ? A 
goodly number, if not the most, of the alleged duplicates and conflicts are created 
by the partition into documents, and cannot therefore be urged in its favor without 
arguing in a circle. For instance, in Gen. 37 : 1-10, two reasons are given for the 
hatred of Joseph by his brethren — his father's partiality and his dream. By 
assigning these to different documents they are made to appear variant explana- 

1 E. g., Budde, Gunkel, Cheyne, Driver, Kautzsch, McFadyen. Oxford Hexateuch, quoted by Orr, 
" The Problem of the O. Test.," p. 509. 



INTRODUCTION xxix 



tions. Spurrell gives the following cases where the compiler R (1) adds something 
to harmonize statements (21 : 34 ; 26 : 46 ; 85 : 5 ; 46 : 12-20) ; (2) fills up gaps 
and removes contradictions (4 : 25 ; 10 : 24 ; 21 : 14 ; 26 : la, 15, 18 ; 35 : 8 ; 
37 : 5b, 8b ; 38 : 1, 20 ; 43 : 14 ; 46 : 1) ; (3) to eliminate what was contradictory 
from one or other of the documents (21 : 17f ; 32 : 8 ; 33 : 10 ; 3 : 25) ; (4) to make 
harmonize with statements occurring elsewhere (25 : 18b ; 35 : 22a). ("Genesis," 
p. 63). Here are twenty-three instances where conflicts are created by attributing 
what harmonizes them to a redactor. In other words, the partition of the radical 
criticism makes conflicts where there are none in our Bible. Some of the "doub- 
lets " and " conflicts " are the result of declaring what the Hexateuch describes as 
accounts of different, but similar events, to be variant narratives of the same inci- 
dent, e. g., the flight of Hagar (Gen. 14 : 4-14 ; 21 : 9-21), the denial of their wives 
by Abraham and Isaac (12 : 10-20 ; 20 : 1-15 ; 26 : 6-11). Repetitions and the 
use of synonymous expressions found so often in Hebrew for the sake of 
emphasis, are often exalted into marks of different authorship, e. g., Gen. 21 : 1 : 
"The Lord visited Sarah as he had said and the Lord did unto Sarah as he had 
spoken," where the first clause is credited to J and the last to P, although the 
word TiORD — Jehovah — in it has to be ascribed to a redactor. In Gen. 30 : 22, 
"And God remembered Rachel " is credited to P, " and God hearkened to her " to 
E. Even though these and other considerations urged by the more conservative 
scholars may not be thought fully to break the force of the argument from dupli- 
cate narratives, it must be acknowledged that the partition of the radical criticism 
creates more difficulties than it solves. The two arguments also which seem to 
many to have the most force — from the divine names and from duplicate 
accounts — are little in evidence from the beginning of the Mosaic age after Exod. 
chap. 3. In view of the quite common practice of writing from before Abraham's 
day, it would be strange were there not records of the times of the patriarchs and 
the earlier ages in Moses' day ; at least there were traditions. If it be held that 
the use of the divine names and the occurrence of duplicates indicate more than 
one source for Genesis, is it any more improbable that one in the Mosaic age, or 
Moses himself, combined preexisting sources into our present Genesis than that this 
should be done in later ages ? This view would account for the persistent tradition 
of its Mosaic authorship. It would also be relieved from the tremendous improb- 
ability of the other view — that Jewish leaders at the time of the exile should seek to 
impose, and succeed in imposing, new legislation upon the people in the name of 
Moses by imbedding it in a history whose introductory account of creation contra- 
dicted that which had been accepted from time immemorial in almost every 
particular, and also gave conflicting narratives of the flood, etc. 

32. The theory that the religion of Israel was an evolution, and in case of the 
apostles of the newer criticism, purely naturalistic at that, 1 is really the chief 
ground of the hypothesis of the post-Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch. In 
the alleged development of the early religion of Israel from lower forms through 
polytheism and monolatry to ethical monotheism, it is said the religious and moral 

1 E. G. Kuenen, " Prophets," p. 585. " So long as we derive a separate part of Israel's religious life 
directly from God, and allow the supernatural to intervene, or immediate revelation to intervene, in even 
a single point, so long also our view of the whole continues to be incorrect. . . It is the supposition of a 
natural development alone which accounts for all the phenomena." 



xxx INTRODUCTION 



ideas of the Pentateuch were not reached until long after the age of Moses, and 
could not have been communicated by him. But the general history of religion has 
much which is against this theory of the evolution of the religion of the O. T. 
Without trespassing upon the disputed ground whether there are evidences of an 
original monotheism behind the ethnic religions, it is admitted that the earlier 
the ethnic religious writings the purer is the morality, the fewer the gods, and the 
nearer the approach to monotheism. Doctor Fairbairn testifies : "The younger 
the polytheism the fewer its gods." 1 Max Miiller declares : " Whenever we can 
trace back a religion to its first beginning, we find it free from many of the blem- 
ishes that offend us in its later phases." 2 Ebrard sums up the results of his wide 
researches in these words : ' ' We have nowhere been able to discover the least trace 
of any forward and upward movement from fetishism to polytheism, and from 
that to a gradually advancing knowledge of the one God ; but, on the contrary, 
we have found among all the peoples of the heathen world a most decided tendency 
to sink from an earlier and relatively purer knowledge of God toward something 
lower." 3 Kenouf bears the same testimony of the religion of Egypt. 4 Doctor 
Martin, 6 Doctor Legge, and others, of that of China. Professor Banargea, of Calcutta, 
of that of India ; 6 also Max Miiller. 7 The early Babylonian religion is supposed 
by some to have contained the monotheistic elements out of which the religion of 
Israel sprang. It is also true that no other nation than the Jews ever, unaided, 
advanced from polytheism to monotheism. This basal conception of the radical 
criticism then — a conception which, as a concealed presupposition, does so much 
to shape its processes and conclusions — clashes with the facts of the general history 
of religion. It is no explanation to allege that the Israelites advanced upward to 
ethical monotheism against the current dowmward into more degraded polytheism 
prevailing all around, because they had a "genius for religion." They were about 
the last people from whom this might be expected. Convulsed for the most of the 
time with intestine strife or foreign war, there was little of the repose favorable to 
higher conceptions of God through abstract philosophic thought. Neither were 
the prophets to whom this advance is chiefly credited, the kind of men from whom 
this leap upward, on these grounds, was to be expected. They were at the farthest 
remove from philosophers. They were profoundly interested in the politics of their 
own people and the great movements among other nations, rather than in evolving 
new ideas of God. Neither do they speak as men just discovering new conceptions 
of God by subtle thought. They argue and declare on the basis of what they already 
know and what they assume the people ought to understand. They reason from the 
idea of a holy God, and not to it. The circumstances of their national life were 
also unfavorable to the evolution of monotheism. Deities were thought to have 
might in proportion to that of the nations of which they were the patron divinities. 
Israel was a small nation living in fear of the great monarchies on either side, and 
for the most of the time weakened by war and defeat. At the time it is thought 
Israel's prophets conceived this high idea, the little power it had was waning, or 
had been crushed. The natural inference would be that a deity who had suffered 

1 " Stud, in Phil, of Rel.," p. 22. 2 « chips from a German Workshop," Vol. I., p. 23. 

a " Christ. Apol.," III., p. 317. « " Hibbert Lect.," p. 91. 5 " The Chinese, " pp. 163, 164. 

« " The Aryan Witness." 7 " Science of Religion," p. 99. 



INTRODUCTION xxxi 



his people to be overcome by those under the patronage of other gods must be 
subordinate, and not the supreme and only divinity. It is also doubtful whether 
the national experiences of Israel were a natural training for the higher moral ideas 
which Israel alone had. To the general improbability that one people, and only one 
people should, unaided, attain to ethical monotheism while all others sank deeper 
in degraded polytheism, is added the special one that this should take place among 
a people apparently least fitted for it. To accept this double improbability in 
defiance of the sufficient explanation that God revealed himself to Israel and to 
Israel alone, as claimed by the Old Testament, the only source of knowledge of 
the religion of Israel : to do this even on the repudiation of the claim of those who 
communicated this higher truth seems, I humbly submit, the opposite of reasonable. 
But if Israel's religious ideas were due to a revelation from God and not to an evo- 
lution, there is no reason why they should not have been communicated as early as 
the age of Moses and by him. There can be no a priori improbability. 

Both the anti-supernaturalistic leaders and those who admit some supernatural 
influence while accepting the general conclusions of these leaders, depend upon the 
0. T. alone for facts to support their theory. It is conceded by Kuenen that they 
dare " to form a conception of Israel's development totally different from that which, 
as any one can see, is set forth in the Old Testament." 1 This "totally different 
conception" is gained by regarding the idolatry and worship on high places which 
the records so frequently declare a lapse from the ancient true faith, as the real and 
only early religion. The fact that, frequently, falls into these practices are not 
designated lapses from the true faith, gives no ground for an argument from silence 
to set aside the evidence from the consistent general attitude of historian and 
prophet. The chief function of a historian is to record facts, not to characterize 
them. But this very silence is created very largely — some would say wholly — by 
relegating to later hands, or interpreting as later false ideas projected backward into 
the history of earlier times, all passages which conflict with this theory. For in- 
stance, the institutions of the Priest's Code — the Levitical legislation — alleged to 
be post-exilic, are inseparably interwoven into the texture of the pre-exilic history 
as given in 1 and 2 Chronicles. For this reason chiefly, these books are contempt- 
uously put out of court as unhistorical. Judges, 1 and 2 Samuel, and 1 and 2 
Kings are said to have a real substratum of the historical. But this substratum 
is found to be what is left when all that is out of harmony with the theory is cut 
away as later deposits of false ideas with which it is said to have been overlaid. 
Judges is thought to give the truest picture of pre-regal times. But it is also held 
that there was no national as well as no religious centralization until the times of 
Samuel and David. All references to judgments being brought upon Israel for 
falling into idolatry and deliverance upon return to Jehovah, as well as to general 
concerted action, are attributed to later redactors. Wellhausen accepts only 
chap. 1, 17, and 18, and declares all the rest to be "the redactor's scheme." The 
tabernacle, so inseparably connected with the Levitical Code, is regarded as a 
fiction of the exilic or post-exilic period. References to it, and which imply it, are 
stricken out of the histories accepted as containing this substratum of the his- 
torical, and relegated to the deposit of later and false ideas or explained away 

* " Modern Rev.," July, 1880. 



xxxii INTRODUCTION 



(e. g., Judg. 18 : 31 ; 21 : 19 ; 1 Sam. 1 : 24 ; 2 : 22 ; 3 : 3 ; 2 Sam. 7 : 6 ; 1 Kings 
3:2; 8:4). Hosea and Amos lived before the Deuteronomic and Levibical Codes 
are supposed to have been written and Messianic expectations to have arisen. All 
references to these, as well as much else which implies prophetic knowledge of the 
future, and constituting one-fifth of the books of Hosea and Amos, are attributed 
to later hands by Doctor Harper. 1 So far as the silence so much depended upon 
for evidence of the evolution theory of Israel's religion is thus created by the theory, 
it is no proof at all. To shape the sources of evidence by the theory and then use 
them as thus shaped in its support, is the veriest logical fallacy. This theory can 
be used as proof of the late date of portions of the Hexateuch only as it has itself 
been previously established by independent evidence. 

33. The hypothesis that an older and more reliable history has been overlaid 
by a deposit of later ideas involves its own difficulties. Did those who covered the 
older records in this way think these later ideas true of the early religion of Israel ? 
If this was their belief, then were they not better conditioned to judge correctly 
than men of to-day after two or three thousand years have passed ? The radical 
criticism holds that they had the alleged more genuine history before them, but 
either misinterpreted it or thought it false. But could they have misinterpreted 
it, in the clearer light of this earlier time ? May we not rather believe the radical 
criticism to be pressing a false theory ? But could they have thought it false ? 
This could only be because they had unwritten traditions they thought more re- 
liable than the written records. A tradition of the early religion of Israel main- 
taining itself for centuries against the views embodied in records which had been 
revised over and over again and had been accepted from time immemorial, and 
finally even validating itself as preferable, does not seem very probable. 

The alternative view more generally adopted by the representatives of the 
radical criticism also has its difficulties. Later writers sifted their own ideas into 
the earlier records to make it appear that monotheism and a central sanctuary, and 
not polytheism and worship at high places all over the land as these unperverted 
records clearly declared, had been the early and recognized religion of Israel. This 
was done the better to secure the acceptance of these later innovations by making 
them appear ancient and authoritative. But these alleged earlier records are said 
to have engaged the attention of an indefinite number of writers for perhaps two 
centuries before the first deposit of later ideas was made. The original conception 
of Israel's early religion must then have been well known to the leaders, if not to 
a goodly number of the people. The belief that the Israelites had earlier been 
unacquainted with monotheism and had recognized the worship of false gods on 
high places everywhere as legitimate must have been definite and confirmed among 
all who had any intelligent idea of the question. At the same time, it was only as 
the alleged revolutionary changes and additions by which these records were made 
to state that monotheism and a central sanctuary had been the early religion of 
Israel instead of an innovation were undetected, that the leaders in this new move- 
ment could hope to profit by this perversion of the old records, even if they might 
be thought willing to succeed by such means. But how could this be done under 
these circumstances ? Were they able to suppress all copies of the old records ex- 

1 " Com. Hosea and Amos." 



INTRODUCTION xxxlii 



cept those they tampered with? Did all the people who had become confirmed in 
the views contained in the old sacred records all at once also forget them all? Did 
they have performed upon them a psychological miracle by which they not only for- 
got the old views, but even thought the new to have been the old? Or did they all 
enter into a conspiracy of silence in order that the true religion might be helped 
by a falsified history ? Was there no one among those who knew the old and pre- 
sumably authoritative records who was unwilling to condone a fraud, that it had 
to wait for over two thousand years for exposure ? 1 

34. The instances of alleged anachronisms which are thought to indicate the 
post-Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch are explained in harmony with the more 
conservative view. 2 In any case one may admit that a few archeological and 
explanatory notes of a later age may have crept into our present Hebrew text and 
not be compelled to accept the full theory of the radical criticism. Reference 
must be made to some general considerations. 

35. The use made of the redactor — denominated R — in the support of this 
theory illustrates the arbitrariness of the methods of the radical criticism and 
makes it difficult to believe it true. He is said to have acted in the most incon- 
sistent and inexplicable way. As illustrations take the following instances out of 
more than one hundred found in Genesis alone, according to the critical analysis 
of Kautzsch and Socin. The expression "both man, beast, and creeping thing 
and fowl of the air " is said to be characteristic of P and foreign to J. But in 6 : 7 
and 7 : 23 it is found imbedded in what, for other reasons, is allotted to J. It is 
therefore credited to R. But if R added this expression to J in these two cases, 
why did he not act consistently and insert it in all cases in J where it might as 
naturally be expected to occur, which is just what is denied. "Male and female " 
is said to be characteristic of P, while " male and his female " is used by J. But 
the former expression is found in J in 7 : 3 and 9, and is therefore credited to R. 
But why only in these instances, if he preferred this form? It is said that P de- 
clares the animals were to enter the ark by twos and J by sevens. But in 7 : 9 
"two and two" occurs in J, and R is said to have cut out the original "seven and 
seven" and put this in its place. But in ver. 2 he allows "seven and seven" to 
stand, although J is thus made to contradict himself in the course of four sen- 
tences. In this same 7 : 9 R is said to have stricken out "Jehovah" and put 
"Elohim " in its place, while in ver. 1 and 16, on either side, he lets "Jehovah" 
remain. But in 21 : 1, 22 : 11, he is credited with the exact reverse of this, and 
is said to strike out "Elohim" andinserts "Jehovah," but lets "Elohim" remain 
in immediate connection — even in the same sentence, in the first instance. All this, 
which is but a specimen taken in but six verses out of scores in Genesis alone, 
seems inscrutable and too inconsistent and contradictory to attribute to sane men. 
Doctor Orr but states the facts moderately when he describes the action attributed 
to R or the various Rs as follows : "At times he puts his sections side by side, or 
alternates them, with little alteration, again he weaves them together into the 
most complicated literary webs ; yet again he ' works them up ' till the separate 
existence of the documents is lost in the blend. At one time, as Klostermann says, 

1 See Konig, "Die Hauptprobleme des altisraelitischen Religionsgeschichte," pp. 21, 22. 

2 E. g., Cave, "Inspiration of the Old Testament." 

C 



INTKODUCTION 



he shows an almost 'demonic art' in combining and relating; at another, an 
incapacity verging on imbecility. At one moment he is phenomenally alert in 
smoothing out difficulties, correcting mistakes, and interpolating harmonistic 
clauses ; at another, he leaves the most glaring contradictions, in the critic's view, 
to stand side by side. Now he copies J's style, now D's, now P's." 1 However 
unaccountably he may seem to act, it is noticeable that he always appears in the 
nick of time to relieve the radical critics of some difficulty, even though he has 
self-sacrificingly to injure his own reputation. 

36. Statements continually made by radical scholars to the effect that "there 
is practical unanimity among men whose knowledge entitles them to judge," 2 are 
neither over-modest nor careful. It is rather doubtful whether all who have taken 
issue with the conclusions upon which radical criticism is most generally agreed — 
men of equal ability and many of them having had equal advantages — should so 
summarily be ruled out of court as incompetents. Neither is the consensus among 
radical scholars so general as statements of this kind imply. 8 Nearly as many put 
E a century or more before J as put J the same time prior to E. The dates as- 
signed to their composition cover a period of over three hundred years. Some 
argue that J as well as E was prepared in the Northern kingdom, while the most 
are convinced it was prepared in the Southern. Some think the patriarchs per- 
sonifications of tribes, others mythical heroes derived from astral gods, while the 
moderates concede that they were real persons. The greatest variety of view is 
held as to the details of the critical partition and the portions assigned to re- 
dactors. The same is true in less measure of the derivation of the name Jehovah 
and of the early religious condition of Israel. Even in conclusions which have 
been thought best established there has been dissent. Dillmann, Delitzsch, 
Riehm, Kittel, Oettli, etc., more or less completely dissent from one of the posi- 
tions regarded by the majority of the radical school as best established — that the 
Deuteronomic legislation was earlier than the Levitical. Very recently Winkler, 4 
a radical of the radicals, has been converted to substantially the same view. The 
discoveries of archeology have led many of its leading representatives to repudiate 
the chief conclusions of the radical criticism, some of them — e. g., Sayce, Halevy, 
and Hommel — after having been adherents of that school. Klostermann, from no 
special leaning toward the conservatives, has also been compelled to abandon these 
conclusions and to verge somewhat nearer to the traditional view. 5 Dr. Geo. Adam 
Smith has candidly confessed that the expectation of some years since that criti- 
cism had reached permanent conclusions along the lines marked out twenty years 
ago has to be abandoned, in view of the coming to light of new and fundamental 
material. 6 The present tendency, in order to meet difficulties, to assume a larger 
and larger number of documents and redactors, until the old clear-cut J, E, D, P 
are resolved into the work of schools of writers extending through centuries, 
threatens to disintegrate the w T hole fabric. Depending upon the Old Testament 
as we have it, can the evidence upon which reliance is placed be very conclusive 

i "The Problem of the Old Testament," Dr. Jas. Orr, p. 220. 

2 E. g., Addis, " Heb. Rel. to the Establishment of Judaism under Ezra," p. 11. 

3 " The Problem of the Old Testament," p. 313. 

4 "Religionsgeschichblicher und geschichtlicher Orient." 5 "Der Pentateuch." 
« "Recent Developments of Old Test. Crit.," "Quar. Rev.," Jan., 1907. 



INTRODUCTION xxxv 



when it permits such a variety of changing views? It is also to be remarked that 
often as great confidence is expressed by the representatives of conflicting views in 
those views as for views on which they are more generally united in opposition to 
the more conservative school. 1 With equal confidence radical critics of the New 
Testament have declared that all competent scholars had abandoned the tradition 
of the Lucan authorship of the third Gospel and of Acts, although such men as 
Weiss, Zahn, Eamsay, etc., and now even Harnack, had to be declared incom- 
petents. Under these circumstances more conservative critics may well maintain 
their composure, even though the attempt may continue to be made to win a ver- 
dict for the radical criticism by the easy method of ruling the more conservative 
criticism out of court. 

37. From the foregoing treatment, the theory which involves the post-Mosaic 
origin and authorship of the Pentateuch can be seen to be beset with difficulties 
at every step, when transferred from the literary chess-board of the recluse into 
the living situation it creates. The recognition of Moses as the great lawgiver of 
Israel, although he gave next to nothing of legislation, and nothing which was 
recorded, even if he were not a myth ; successive codes of laws palmed off upon 
the people hundreds of years after his death, and accepted because thought to be 
from him, although no hint of them was found in the carefully prepared and long 
accepted sacred records, even although, also, they imposed new and heavy burdens 
and contained conflicting provisions ; new histories put forth with each code to 
make it appear to grow out of events in the time of the exodus, and its institution 
to root down into the age of the patriarchs, and these new narratives accepted as 
validating the Mosaic authorship of the new codes, although in many cases dis- 
crepant and in conflict with the records so long accepted as true and sacred ; a 
theory of the religion of Israel in conflict with the general history of religion in 
essential features, contradicting also the face meaning of the Old Testament, as 
conceded, and which requires the rejection of the testimony of prophetic writers 
as to the source of their preeminent knowledge of truth ; the slender evidence 
upon which conclusions are thought established ; the use made of the redactor or 
redactors to relieve the theory of difficulties, although it is needful to credit him 
or them with actions so inconsistent and conflicting as to be altogether inexpli- 
cable ; all this, and much more which is excluded from this brief Introduction, 
involves a sum total of difficulty too great to be set aside by any considerations 
based upon a minute criticism of details, whether the substantial Mosaic author- 
ship of the Pentateuch be, or be not established. 

38. As pointed out by Doctor Green and others, a very large proportion of the 
difficulties urged against the substantial Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch by 
the radical criticism is created by its own complicated scheme. The fuller recog- 
nition by more conservative scholars that the author of the Pentateuch doubtless 
used earlier records in the composition of Genesis, and that also a somewhat larger 
margin may be allowed for later glosses and explanatory notes, removes a large 
part of the objections which remain. In the humble opinion of the writer who 

1 E.g., Cheyne's "Jerahmeel," Winkler's "Jeremias," Jansen and the Pan-Orientalists, who hold 
that not only the patriarchs, hut David and Solomon were astral myths. The latter holds that a mythical 
Assyrian hero, Gilgames, was the prototype of even John the Baptist and our Lord. 



xxxvi INTRODUCTION 



has been following the criticism of the Pentateuch for the best part of a working- 
lifetime, the balance of difficulty still left is less by all odds than that which the 
higher criticism continually ignores in connection with its complicated and revo- 
lutionary scheme. 

Notwithstanding the fact that devout and able scholars think the radical 
criticism consistent with evangelical views, its logical tendency toward the anti- 
supernaturalism upon which the great apostles of its later phases wrought it out 
is everywhere in evidence. It is the most potent influence in bringing about that 
denial of the Incarnation of the Son of God, his resurrection, and his vicarious 
work, and that reducing of Christianity to an ethical code and to the same class 
as other religions, which is coming more and more to the front. 1 While all minds 
ought ever to be open to new light, any theory which naturally tends to induce 
the belief that these great doctrines, which have been the ground both of the 
highest and most sacred experiences of the most royal men of all the Christian 
centuries and of the aggressive might of Christianity herself in her grand work for 
the world, are illusive and false, has against it the most tremendous presumption. 

The question as to the historicity of the narratives of Genesis, and whether the 
account of creation and of the flood, etc., is reconcilable with established science, 
are treated in the body of this Commentary, to which the reader is referred. 

Below is appended literature in defense of the substantial Mosaic origin of the 
Pentateuch put forth in more recent years. 

By American scholars : Dr. W. H. Green, "The Unity of the Book of Gen- 
esis," "Moses and the Prophets," "The Higher Criticism of the Pentateuch," 
"The Hebrew Feasts," Articles in Presb. and Ref. Rev., "Discussion with Doctor 
Harper" ("Hebraica," Vol. IV.). Dr. E. Cone Bissell, "The Pentateuch, its 
Origin and Structure," "Genesis Printed in Colors." Dr. G. Vos, "The Mosaic 
Origin of the Pentateuchal Codes." Dr. R. H. McKim, "The Problem of the 
Pentateuch." Dr. F. G. Wright, "Scientific Confirmations of Old Testament 
History." Dr. W. J. Beecher, "Testimony of the Historial Books save Chron- 
icles," "Essays on Pentateuchal Criticism by various writers," "Anti-Higher 
Criticism by various authors." Dr. C. M. Mead, " Christ and Criticism." Dr. F. 
Gardner, "The Origin of Israel's Religion." Dr. G. H. Schodde, "Pentateuchal 
Testimony." Dr. F. R. Beattie, "Radical Criticism." T. E. Schmauk, "The 
Negative Criticism and the O. Test." Dr. J. W. McGarvie, "Authorship of the 
Book of Deuteronomy." Dr. S. C. Bartlett, "The Veracity of the Hexateuch." 
Dr. R. P. Stebbins, "A Study of the Pentateuch." "Davis' Dictionary of the 
Bible," in articles bearing on the question. Clay, "Light on the 0. Test, from 
Babel." 

By British authors: Dr. Jas. Orr, "The Problem of the 0. Test.," "The 

1 Prof. N. Schmidt ("The Prophet of Nazareth") says: "The [radical criticism] movement could 
not stop at the Old Testament." It has swept him on to reject the Christ of "dogma," although he 
thinks the Christ of dogma but a consistent development of certain ideas that unquestionably hold an 
important place in New Testament literature. He has, therefore, become practically a Unitarian. Dr. 
H. P. Smith has become professor in a Unitarian school. Julius Kaftan, of Berlin, in his " Jesus and Paul," 
declares that the conclusions of the radical criticism are not the outcome of the historical method, but an 
attempt to bring everything into harmony with a preconceived view of the world. Its advocates virtually 
say : " We will know history, not as it is or was, but as it ought to be . . . according to our presup- 
positions ... of our modern view of the world." 



INTRODUCTION xxxvii 



Bible under Fire." ''Lex Mosaica," by fourteen prominent scholars. Bishop 
Ellieott, "Christus Comprobator." Doctor Sayce, "The Higher Criticism and 
the Monuments," "Monumental Facts and Higher Critical Fancies." Dr. R. 
Watts, "The Newer Criticism and the Analogy of Faith." Dr. A. Cave, "The 
Inspiration of the Old Test." Dr. T. Whitelaw, "Old Testament Critics." Dr. 
J. Robertson, "The Early Religion of Israel." J. Sime, "Deuteronomy the Peo- 
ple's Book, its Origin and Nature," "The History of All Israel," etc. Dr. J. 
Urquhart, "The Bible, its Structure and Purpose." Dr. W. S. Baxter, "Sanctuary 
and Sacrifice." 

By Continental scholars : Dr. P. J. Hoedemaker, Der Mosaische Ursprung der 
Gesetze. Dr. A. Zahn, Ernste Blicke in den Wahn der Modernen Critik, Das Deuteron- 
omium, etc. Dr. E. Rupprecht, Das Eatsel des Funfbuches Mose and seine falsehe 
Losung, Das RdtseVs Losung, etc. Doctor Muir, Die Entstehung des Deuteronomiums. 
W. Moeller, "Are the Critics Right"? Biblische Zeit und Streitfragen, edited by 
Doctor Kropatsebeck. Die Bibelfrage in der Gegenwart, published by Zillessen of 
Berlin. Articles in Neuen Kirchliche Zeitschrift. Roos, Bender, Billeb, Schall, and 
many others have written from substantially the same point of view. Doctors 
Homrael and Halevy have both rejected the Wellhausen view, and defend the 
essential truth of the Mosaic history. 

The literature in support of the radical criticism is very voluminous. The 
reader is referred to the lists of works at the close of articles on the Pentateuch, 
Hexateuch, and the individual books in Hastings' "Dictionary of the Bible," for 
the chief works of more recent date especially, up to the time it was issued. 



THE BOOK OF GENESIS 



CHAPTER I 



1 IN the beginning God created the heaven and 
the earth. 



1 IN the beginning God created the heaven and 
the earth. 



Chap. 1. 1, 2. The Beginning. The first 
chapter of Genesis is pure revelation. No human 
eye witnessed the scenes and events which it 
records (Job 38 : 4). They transcend all human 
experience and all possible human knowledge. 
It is pure revelation as distinguished (1) from 
history. History proper could not begin until 
its st;age and actor had been furnished in the 
creation of the world and man. (2) From 
science. Scientific investigation has not even 
yet reached definite conclusions concerning the 
early condition of our globe. Besides — what is 
true of Scripture as a whole — this initial section 
was not written to teach geology, astronomy, or 
any of the physical sciences. Rightly inter- 
preted, it utters nothing contradictory to them ; 
its purpose, however, is religious rather than 
scientific. " The intention of Holy Scripture," 
says Cardinal Baronius, "is to teach us how to 
go to heaven, and not how the heavens go." 
(3) From myth and legend. These are the 
product of time — a growth, the stages of which 
can usually be traced. But in this account no 
legendary or mythological accretions are dis- 
coverable. As Tayler Lewis has remarked, 
" this stands alone in the world, like the prime- 
val granite of the Himalaya among the later 
geological formations." The absurdities and 
monstrosities which characterize the cosmogo- 
nies of the heathen are conspicuously absent 
from it. It is probably the inspired original of 
which they are the corrupted traditions. But 
if, as some maintain, it was derived from them, 
something, the reverse of the usual process, must 
have occurred to strip it of its original grotesque 
features and give it the pure and sublime aspect 
which it wears in the inspired narrative ; which 



something must have been the illumination of 
the Divine Spirit, who alone could reveal the 
unknown past as he has revealed the unknown 
future. The Scriptures begin, as they end, with 
apocalypse. 

1. This verse describes the divine act by 
which the material, prima materia, was pro- 
vided for the succeeding acts portrayed in the 
verses following. That it was not the finished 
"heavens and earth" which were first spoken 
into existence, appears from ver. 2 which de- 
scribes the earth as "waste and void," and 
from 2 : 1 which shows that the "heaven and 
the earth " did not reach a " finished " condition 
till the end of the sixth creative day. 

That this verse is not a mere heading, nor a 
summary statement of the several particulars 
afterward specified (Dods, Bush), but an in- 
tegral part of the narrative, is evident from the 
conjunctive particle 1 (and) which connects the 
second verse with the first, and the acts de- 
scribed from ver. 2 onward with the primary 
creative act of ver. 1. This second verse con- 
tinues, does not begin, the subject. It is clear, 
moreover, that a verse in which the heavens 
take precedence of the earth could not properly 
be the superscription of a narrative in which the 
earth takes precedence of the heavens. 

In the beginning; that is, at the outset 
of the work of creation here described. No date 
is given : it is not the object of the sacred writer 
to tell us when "the heavens and the earth" 
were created, but only that they were created 
— did not exist therefore from eternity, and that 
they were created by God. 

God. The word for God, D^K, Mohim, 2 
signifying either the Being to be feared (Gen. 31 : 



1 As the conjunctive particle is joined to the noun (earth) and not to the verb (was) of the second verse 
—the latter usage being mostly confined to the historic narrative of successive events, one event being 
regarded as coming out of and after another— it brings this verse into very close connection with the pre- 
ceding verse, and expresses time contemporary with the verb in the preceding verse, and describes the 
chaotic condition of the earth immediately subsequent to its creation. 

2 The original derivation of Elohim is not yet a settled matter. (See Spurrell's notes on the Hebrew 
Text of Genesis.) 

39 



40 



GENESIS 



[Ch. I. 



«, 53; isa. 8 : is), or, more probably, the Strong 
and Mighty One, is the most frequent designa- 
tion of the Supreme Being in the Old Testament, 
occurring over two thousand five hundred times, 
and is exclusively employed in this section 
(i : i to 2 : 3). Though plural in form, it is usually 
followed by a singular verb, suggesting possibly 
the unity of the Godhead (comp. Deut. 6 ; 4), and 
is sometimes applied to angels 1 (Ps. 8 : 5), or to 
heathen deities — the qualifying words in such 
instances being in the plural (Gen. 31 : 32; Exod. 

20 : 3 ; 32 : 4, 8 ; 1 Sam. 4 : 8 ; 1 Kings 12 : 28 ; Jer. 16 : 20), 

or to magistrates and distinguished personages 
(Exod. 21 : 6 ; 22 : 8, 9). In the last two passages it 
is rendered by "judges." Its plural form is to 
be explained, not as a remnant of polytheism, 
nor as a plural of majesty, after the manner of 
kings, but as the plural of quantity or intensity 
" expressive of the fulness of the divine nature 
and the multiplicity of the divine powers," 2 or, 
as "that plurality in the Divine unity, which 
was more fully revealed, when God sent his only 
begotten Son into the world, and when the only 
begotten Son, who was in the bosom of the 
Father, declared him to mankind." 

Created, that is (in this connection), pro- 
duced from nothing. N^3, bara, the first of the 
three terms employed in this section to describe 
the divine activity — the other two being 13P, 
yatsar, formed, and HK^, 'asah, made — always 
means in Kal, the conjugation here employed, 
to create, and always signifies a divine creation, 
the production of that which had no existence 
before. ' ' The kernel of the notion expressed by 



X13, bara" says Delitzsch, " is the origination 
of the absolutely new." While the other two 
verbs signify to construct out of preexisting 

material (see for *)2f\ yatsar, 2:7, 19 ; Ps. 33 : 15 ; Isa. 

44 : 9 ; for ?]&)}, 'asah, 8:6; Exod. 5 : 16 ; Deut. 4 : 16), 

and are predicable equally of God and man, 
K^3, bara, is used exclusively of God, and is 
never found with an accusative of the material. 
As it is used for the creation of " the great sea- 
monsters, and every living creatu re that mo veth ' ' 
(ver. 2i), and of the creation of man (ver. 27 ; 5 : 1, 
2), and of everything new that God creates, both 
in the kingdom of nature and of grace (Exod. 

34 : 10 ; Num. 16 : 30 ; Ps. 51 : 10 ; Isa. 4:5; 40 : 26 ; 41 : 20 ; 

45 : 7, 8 ; 48 : 7 ; 57 : 19 ; 65 : 17, 18 ; Jer. 31 : 32), the idea 

of preexistent material is not necessarily ex- 
cluded ; yet in this verse the existence of any 
primeval material is precluded by the object 
created : the heaven and the earth [in the 
primitive condition of chaos]. Its use in ver. 
21, 27, though seemingly against, really favors a 
distinctively creative act, for in both instances 
something that did not exist before, namely, 
animal life and the human spirit, is called into 
being. The Hebrew always conceived of life, 
whether animal or rational, as the product of 
God's creative power ; which agrees with the rep- 
resentation in Ps. 104 : 30 : " Thou sendest forth 
thy Spirit ; they are created." So also in Ps. 148 : 
5: "He commanded and they were created." 
In Gen. 2 : 3 it is expressly said : " Which God 
created to make," that is, made by creating. 
In every passage in which bara 3 occurs, the 
idea is that of bringing into being by the power 



1 In Gen. 35 : 7, angels are probably included under Elohim. Gesenius thinks the plural verb may have 
been used with Elohim in Gen. 20 : 13, because Abraham was conversing with a heathen. The later 
books of the Bible avoid the plural (comp. Neh. 9 : 18 with Exod. 32 : 4). 

2 " The plural paints the endless fulness of the might and power which lies in the Divine Being, and 
thus passes over into the intensive plural." (Oehler.) 

3 The contention of some Christian scholars that, as the etymological ground-meaning of K"^» 6am, is 
to cut, to hew, to shape by hewing, therefore it cannot mean the absolute creation of the world from nothing, 
is set aside by the twofold consideration— first, that the signification to cut, to hew, is restricted to the Piel 
conjugation, which is not here employed ; and secondly, that usage and not etymology must determine the 
meaning of words : all the verbs which we employ to express abstract or spiritual thoughts were originally 
concrete or sensuous in meaning. This verb {bara) is used in "Piel five times (Josh. 17 : 15, 18 ; Ezek. 21 : 19 ; 
23 : 47— the idea of hewing, with various modifications, suiting every passage), and always of human opera- 
tions. In Kal and its passive Niphal, it is used forty-eight times, and always of divine operations. 

As confirmatory of the view expressed above, note the following: Gesenius (Thesaurus, p. 236, note): 
"The use of this verb in Kal is entirely different from its primary signification (to cut, to shape, to 
fashion), and is used rather of the new production of a thing than of the shaping or elaboration of exist- 
ing material. That the first verse of Genesis teaches that the original creation of the world in its rude 
and chaotic state was from nothing, while in the remaining part of the chapter the elaboration and dis- 
tribution of the matter thus created is taught, the connection of the whole section shows sufficiently 
clearly." Dillmann (Handbook of Genesis, p. 18) : "The Hebrews use only the conjugation Piel (intensi- 
tive) in speaking of human ' forming ' or 'shaping,' while, on the other hand, they use only Kal in speak- 
ing of creation by God." Ewald : " There is thus a designed and sharply marked distinction of the labori- 
ous and artificial ' forming ' by man, and the easy, spontaneous creation of anything by God." Delitzsch 
(Com. on Genesis, p. 74): "Bara in Kal has become the special designation for Divine production, which, 



Ch. 


I. 


] 












GENESIS 






41 


2 k 


Lnd 


the 


earth 


was 


without 


form, 


and 


void ; | 2 And the earth 


was 


waste and void ; 


and dark- 



of God. Whether that which is created is new 
matter, or something else that is new, must be 
learned from the context (comp. Het>. n : 3). 

The heaven, lit., heavens, and the earth ; 
that is, the universe (comp. 2 : 1 ; u : 19, 32 ; Pa. 115 : 
16; j«r. 28:24). The expression popularly de- 
scribes the universe according to its appearance 
as earth and sky. 

[The only strictly creative act, as described 
by the Kal of Bara, in connection with the 
"heavens and the earth," was in the origina- 
tion of their material, whose state is described 
in ver. 2 and its shaping into order in the six 
days' work. For this reason the heavens and 
the earth are said to have been created "in the 
beginning," in the origination of the material 
out of which they were subsequently formed.] 
Though not anticipating modern astronomical 
discovery, the Hebrews were yet profoundly 
impressed with the immensity of the stellar 

World (Gen. 15 : 5 ; Isa. 40 : 6 ; Ps. 8 : 3) and, though 

unacquainted with what physical geography has 
taught us of the earth's configuration, they could 
yet represent it as a globe, and as suspended 

Upon nothing (Job 26 : 7-10 ; Prov. 8 : 27 ; Isa. 40 : 22). 

How divinely august and fair revelation ap- 
pears in this opening verse of Scripture ! This 
incomparably grand and important statement 
could fill no more important place. In it the 
writer, assuming the eternal existence of God, 



asserts that the whole universe was summoned 
into being by his creative fiat (Acts 14 : 15 ; 17 : 24 ; 
Rom. 11 : 36 ; Rev. 14 : 7). It neither existed, there- 
fore, from eternity, nor was fashioned out of 
preexisting materials, nor originated by chance ; 
nor, further, did it proceed as an emanation 1 
from God, as some of the Oriental cosmogonies 
affirm. This word "created" puts an absolute 
and eternal distinction between the creature 
and the Creator. Murphy has well said : " This 
first verse denies atheism ; for it assumes the 
being of God. It denies polytheism or dual- 
ism ; for it confesses the one eternal Creator. 
It denies materialism ; for it asserts the cre- 
ation of matter. It denies pantheism ; for it 
assumes the existence of God before all things 
and apart from them. It denies fatalism ; for it 
involves the freedom of the eternal Being." 

2. And the earth was without form 
and void ; lit., wasteness and emptiness ; 
irOl \7\F\, tohu wabhohu. This is said of the 
earth alone — the earth referred to in the preced- 
ing verse. [But doubtless was true of the heavens 
as well.] The words are used in Isa. 34 : 11 and 
Jer. 4 : 23 to describe the ruin and desolation 
of a wasted and depopulated land (comp. Deut. 32 : 
10 ; isa. 24 : 10) .2 [The author of Gen. chap. 1, after 
the first verse, turns his attention to the earth. 
In ver. 2 he describes the earth as it was when 
God's creative activity had brought its material 



whether in the realm of nature or of spirit, brings into existence something new, something not yet or not 
thus existing." Kalisch (Genesis, Vol. I., p. 1) : " God called the universe into being out of nothing ; not 
out of formless matter coeval in existence with himself." 

1 Ps. 90 : 2 lends no support to the notion of creation by emanation. The verb signifies primarily to 
bring forth, then to bring into being (Deut. 32 : 18 ; Prov. 25 : 23 ; comp. Job 38 : 28). 

Both Harper and Briggs (see "Bib. World," Jan., 1894, p. 7, and "O. T. Student," April, 1884, p. 277), 
following the example of Ewald and others, connect the first verse of Genesis with the third, and make 
the second parenthetical— thus : "In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth, the 
earth being waste and void . . . then God said, let there be light, and there was light." But this render- 
ing must be pronounced grammatically inadmissible. No precisely analogous example can be adduced 
in its support. The rendering is plainly opposed to the simplicity of construction which pervades the 
chapter in which one concluded sentence follows another. Moreover, it makes the creation begin with 
the production of light, which reverses the narrated order of the facts. And finally, "it obliterates that 
distinguishing ground-idea of the theocratic monotheism with which, in the very start, the word of 
revelation confronts all pagan dualism ; in other words, the truth, that in regard to the manner of crea- 
tion, God is the sole causality of heaven and earth in an abstract sense." (Lange.) 

Briggs endeavors on poetical as well as on grammatical grounds to justify the above rendering. " We 
have," he says, " no absolute creation here— no creation of the universe, no creation out of nothing." . . . 
"This is poetic representation." But Hebrew poetry, the presence of which is freely admitted, cannot, 
any more than Hebrew syntax, be fairly quoted in support of this view, or set aside the plain and 
unambiguous statements of the Bible. 

2 Many take " without form and void " to be descriptive of the state of the earth, not as formed by God, 
but as it became by some convulsion ; brought about, possibly, through the machinations of the fallen 
angels; which opinion has been adopted wholly or in part by Murphy, Bush, Delitzsch, Dillmann, and 
others; a notion justly classed by Kalisch among "the aberrations of profound minds, and the endless 
reveries of far-sighted thinkers." 



42 



GENESIS 



and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And 
the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the 
waters. 

3 And God said, Let there be light: and there 
was light. 

4 And God saw the light, that it was good : and 
God divided the light from the darkness. 



[Ch. I. 



ness was upon the face of the deep: and the 
spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. 

3 And God said, Let there be light : and there was 

4 light. And God saw the light, that it was good : 
and God divided the light from the darkness. 



into being, but his formative activity had not 
yet begun.] 

AmcI darkness was upon the face of the 
deep, or, abyss. The "deep," from a root 
meaning to hum, to roar, is generally applied 
to the sea (Ps. 42 : 7 ; km : 6 ; isa. 5i : io), and here 
signifies the tumultuous waters which covered 
the earth before they were yet "divided" (▼«. 
6 and 7) and "gathered into one place" (ver. io), 
or, possibly, the liquid or molten form of the 
earth's primordial matter. Dawson distin- 
guishes between " the deep " and " the waters," 
making the latter refer to the liquid condition 
of the globe, and the former to the "vaporous 
or aeriform mass mantling the surface of our 
nascent planet, and containing the materials 
out of which the atmosphere was afterward 
elaborated." 

And the Spirit of God moved, lit., was 
brooding, upon the face of the Avaters ; 
with his vitalizing energy. Matter could not 
of itself, in any of its forms or combinations, 
produce life. This could be done only by the 
personal, free, life-giving, and life-preserving 
Spirit of God. The Scriptures uniformly rep- 
resent the Divine Spirit, and not impersonal 
force, as the source or formative cause of all 
life in the world, whether physical, intellectual, 

Or Spiritual (Job 36 : 13 ; 33 : 4 ; Ps. 33 : 6 ; 101 : 30 ; Isa. 
61 : 1 ; Bzek. 37 : 9 ; John 6 : 63 ; 2 Cor. 3:6). The He- 
brew word nSrHD, merachepheth, 1 brooding, is 
used of birds (Deut. 32 : 10) covering their young 
in order to warm and protect them, or their 
eggs, in order to impart the vivifying warmth 
and hatch them. 2 So the Spirit of God brooded 
over the dead, discordant, chaotic mass ; and, as 
a consequence, from its bosom sprang the life, 
and order, and beauty of the world. The 
thought is thus paraphrased by Milton, Par. 
Lost, Bk. I., 19-22: 

Thou from the first 
Wast present, and with mighty wings outspread 
Dove-like satst brooding on the vast 
And mad'st it pregnant. 



3-5. The First Day of Creation. 3. 
And God said. This phrase occurs ten times 
in the narrative of the six days' work, and is 
equivalent to "God willed." As Bishop Hall 
has remarked : " God's speaking is his willing, 
and his willing is his doing" (Pa. 33 : 9; Rom. 4 : 
n). In this creative word (comp. p B . 33 : 6, 7 ■, us : 5) 
we have an adumbration of the incarnate Word, 
the personal Logos of John's Gospel ( JohD * : 1 ; 
comp. Heb. ii : 3) by whom all things were brought 

into existence (John 1 : 4; comp. Heb. 1 : 2). 

Let there be light: and there was 
Eight (comp. 2 cor. 4:6). The sacred writer having 
in ver. 2 described the chaotic condition of the 
globe, now indicates the process by which it 
was reduced to order and fitted for man's abode. 
The first of these steps was the production of 
light. This light, however, must be regarded 
as cosmical rather than solar. The supposition 
that the sun was a perfectly luminous body from 
the first, and that its light was now becoming 
visible through the dispersion of vapors, is 
negatived by ver. 16, 17, which declare that not 
until the fourth day was the sun constituted a 
source of light to the earth, and by this verse 
which asserts that God summoned the light into 
being, and not simply into appearance. This 
light proceeded, doubtless, from the luminous 
matter which the mass of our condensing 
planet (and probably its sister planets) emitted, 
and which now surrounded our globe as with a 
mantle 3 (Ps. 104 : 2) or was diffused throughout 
the whole space of the solar system. 

4. And God saw the light that it was 
good. It was " good " in itself, and as answer- 
ing the end for which it was made (Ecci. 11 : 1). 
Light is employed in Scripture as an emblem of 

the highest good (Job 22 : 28 ; Ps. 37 : 6 ; Prov. 4 : 18). 

It is chosen to represent the Creator himself, 
"who is Light, and in whom is no darkness at 
all" (i John 1 : 5), and "the true Light, which 
lighteth every man" (John 1 : 9). And God 
divided the light from the darkness. 
The verb signifies to disjoin what was previously 



1 The root is more widely used in Syriac, where the word has also the notion of fructifying and fer- 
tilizing. See Bernstein, Syr. Christ., p. 173-4. 

2 A corrupt tradition of this passage may have given rise to the notion of several heathen nations, 
that the world was formed from an egg. 

3 Our translators have obviously misconceived the writer's scope in Ps. 104 : 2, and inserted "thyself" 
instead of " the earth," the proper term. 



Ch. L] 



GENESIS 



43 



5 And God called the light Day, and the dark- 
ness he called Night. And the evening and the 
morning were the first day. 



commingled. "To explain the division of the 
light from the darkness, we need only suppose 
that the luminous matter, in the progress of its 
concentration, was at length gathered within 
the earth's orbit, and then, as one hemisphere 
only would be illuminated at a time, the separa- 
tion of light from darkness, or of day from 
night, would be established" (Dawson). 

5. And God called, lit., called to, the 
light day, and, lit., to, the darkness he 
called night. The "light" and "darkness" 
were respectively designated "day" and 
"night" [in the same terms to be used to de- 
scribe the alternations of light and darkness 
when the sun should appear] . 

And there was evening and there was 
morning, one day. The "evening " is put be- 
fore the " morning," because darkness preceded 
light, and because the Hebrews, like the Egyp- 
tians', Greeks, Persians, and some other nations, 
began the day with the evening. That the days 
of creation were long periods, and not merely 
solar days, appears from various considerations : 

1. The use of QV, yom, day, to express any 
period of duration, of greater or less extent, or 
a period of special character, finds illustration 
in the creation story itself, in which it is em- 
ployed in five different senses, as also in our own 
language. Thus, first, in ver. 5, the light is 
called day, irrespective of duration. Secondly, 
in the same verse, it denotes a period of alter- 
nating darkness and light, before the appear- 
ance of the sun. Thirdly, in ver. 14, it stands 
for twelve hours, or the period of daylight as 
dependent on the sun. Fourthly, in the same 
verse, in the phrase " days and seasons," it rep- 
resents a period of twenty-four hours. Fifthly, 
in 2 : 4, it means the whole period of creation. 
It does not follow, as some have maintained, 
that the days of creation, because numbered 
from one to six, must therefore be understood in 
the ordinary sense of days of the week. The 
term day was the most fitting by which to desig- 
nate these special periods, and they were divided 
into six rather than into fewer or more in order 
hereby to express the best proportion between 
man's days of labor and the rest that should 
follow. It was manifestly God's plan and pur- 
pose that man's working and resting should be 
correlated to his own example in this regard 

(Exod. 20 : 9-11). 

2. The employment of this term to denote a 
period of indefinite duration accords with gene- 



5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness 
he called Night. And there was evening and 
there was morning, one day. 

ral Scripture usage. As Doctor Conant has 
shown {Genesis, Introd., p. 17) it is used for 
past or future time without limit (i»a. so : 8 ; Prov. 
81 : 25) ; for a future prophetic period of indefinite 

length (Isa- 2 : 11-17 ; Ezek. 38 : 14 ; comp. Isa. 11 : 10, 11 ; 
Hosea 2 : 16, 18, 21 ; MicaU 4:6; Zech. 2 : 11 ; S : 10 ; 12 : 9) ; 

for an epoch, or a period of time, in history 

( Judg. 18 : 1 ; 20 : 15 ; 1 Sam. 8 : 18 ; Deut. 31 : 17, 18) j for 

a season of the year (Prov. 25 : 13 ; 2 Sam. 23 : 20) ; for 
a period of life, as of old age (Ecci. 12 : 3) ; for any 
specified time of indefinite length (isam. 3. 2). 
Its use for the ordinary civil day of twenty-four 
hours is one of the most seldom of Scripture. 
Much more frequently it stands for the natural 
day (from sunrise to sunset). But this latter 
meaning is excluded here by the context, which 
speaks of a day with an "evening" and a 
"morning." 

3. [As the sun is said not to have appeared to 
rule the day until the fourth day of creation, 
the three preceding days could not have been 
solar days, but indefinite periods. It is also 
evident that the seventh day upon which God is 
said to have "rested," was conceived as extend- 
ing through all succeeding time. As this day 
is an immense period, and as the first three days 
are not solar days, but of indefinite duration, 
we may reasonably conclude that the other three 
days were also intended to describe indefinite 
periods. This conclusion is not weakened but 
strengthened by the fact that the first six days 
are said to have an evening and a morning. As 
the first three days are said to have an evening 
and a morning before the sun is declared to have 
appeared, these evenings and mornings could 
not have been used in the literal sense ail de- 
scribing the evening and morning of a solar 
day of twelve hours. If they could not have 
been used in this sense of the first three days of 
creation, are we compelled— are we permitted, 
to believe they have this meaning in the succeed- 
ing three? Must we not conclude that these 
words are used of all the days in the same sense ? 
May we not well believe that as evening and 
morning separate between definite periods of 
human activity, so in the days of creation the 
same words are used to indicate the divisions 
between periods of divine action. These words 
are used because they were needed to describe 
something in connection with God's work anal- 
ogous to a purpose evening and morning serve 
in man's activity. We do not need to force an 
unnatural interpretation upon the account of 



44 



GENESIS 



[Ch. I. 



creation to leave room for the immense stretches 
of time which geology has proved must have 
elapsed since the lowest forms of life appeared.] 

Neither does the institution of the sabbath 
and its relation to the creation days compel us 
to believe that they must have been days of 
twenty-four hours. In this commandment the 
Israelites are enjoined to "remember the sab- 
bath day," because, "in six days God created 
the heavens and the earth." But plainly the 
argument of the passage is not : ' ' God worked 
on six natural days, and rested on the seventh ; 
do you therefore the same." It is rather one of 
analogy between God's working and resting, 
and man's — the rule being six periods of labor 
followed by one of rest for each. God wrought 
six of his days and rested the seventh ; there- 
fore, following God's example, let man work six 
of his days and rest the seventh. The argument 
by no means requires that the days of work and 
rest in each case shall be twenty-four hours 
long. "If the six days in Exod. 20 : 11 are 
simply natural days, then the seventh day, in 
which God is represented as having rested from 
his creative labors, must likewise be a natural or 
solar day ; and if so, it is proper to observe what 
follows. It follows (1) that the events recorded 
in the first five verses of Genesis must be com- 
pressed into a single day of twenty-four hours, 
so that no gap will remain into which the short- 
day advocates may thrust the geologic ages, 
which is for them an imperative necessity; 
(2) that the world is only one hundred and 
forty-four hours older than man, which is con- 
trary to both science and revelation ; (3) that 
the statement is incorrect that God finished all 
his work at the close of the sixth day; and 
(4) that the fossiliferous remains which have 
been discovered in the earth's crust have either 
been deposited there since man's creation, or 
were created there at the first, both of which 
suppositions are untenable. But now, if, on the 
contrary, the language signifies that God labored 
in the fashioning of his cosmos through six 
successive periods of indefinite duration, and 
entered on the seventh day into a correspondingly 
long period of sabbatic rest, we can hold the 
opposite of every one of these conclusions, and 
find a convincing argument besides for the ob- 
servance of the sabbath in the beautiful analogy 
which subsisted between God's great week of 
olamim and man's little week of sun-measured 
days" (Whitelaw). 

4. [The cosmologies of other peoples are con- 
firmatory of the creation days being periods 
and not natural days. Whatever view we take 



of their relation to the account in the first of 
Genesis we might expect, had they any con- 
nection through borrowing from each other or 
being all equally dependent upon a common 
primitive tradition, that there would be a gen- 
eral resemblance between them as to the length 
of time in the process of creation. These cos- 
mogonies generally give prominence to the idea 
of long creative periods.] 

Commentators who stand upon the common- 
day theory are obliged to insert the geologic ages 
between the first and second verses of the Mosaic 
account. They regard the second verse as de- 
scriptive of the w T reck by great internal convul- 
sions of a creation that had been built up with 
all its orders of vegetable and animal life during 
an interval of vast and indefinite length, and 
then thus perished; and the remaining verses 
of the chapter as telling how, after the last of 
these convulsions, and in six natural days, 
another creation, including man, was brought 
into existence. 

Some objections to this theory have already 
been stated. The following may be added : 

(1) It derives no support from the language 
employed, and evidently it was not present to 
the mind of the writer. 

(2) "It assumes that the sacred writer has 
not given us an account of the Creator's w^ork, 
but only of a part of it ; that for unknown ages 
the earth was peopled with vegetable and animal 
life, of which no account is made " (Conant). 

(3) It supposes, in fact, a first creation, ex- 
cluding man, and a second creation, including 
him ; and that these creations were differently 
brought about : the first, by secondary causes 
operating through long ages, and the second, 
on the fiat principle, in six ordinary days. 

(4) The facts of geology are against it. They 
lend no support to the assumption of a great in- 
ternal convulsion preceding the creation of man. 
Says Professor Dana : " Geology explicitly 
proves that there was no return to chaos, no great 
revolution, that creation was beyond doubt one 
in its progress. . . No writer has ever brought 
forward the first fact in geology to support the 
idea of a rearrangement just before man ; not 
one solitary fact has ever been appealed to." 

(5) It is condemned by a sound grammatical 
exegesis, which forbids any such separation be- 
tween the first and second verses as it assumes. 
A precisely similar sentence occurs in Job 1:1, 
and a similar method of interpretation should 
be employed : " There was a man in the land of 
Uz, whose name was Job ; and that man was," 
etc. The continuity expressed in this passage 



Ch. L] 



GENESIS 



45 



6 And God said, Let there be a firmament in the 
midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters 

from the waters. 



And God said, Let there be a firmament in the 
midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters 



by the relation of the second " was " to the first is 
equally evident in Genesis, and in each case 
only an imaginary reason can be adduced for 
sundering it. 

6-8. The Second Day of Ceeation. 6. 
And God said, Let there be a firmament 
(Heb., JTp^j rakiy'a, an expanse— properly, 
what is outspread) in the midst of the waters. 
This word, which occurs seven times in this 
chapter (ver. 6, 7, 8, 14, 15, 17, 20) , is sometimes em- 
ployed in the comprehensive sense of denoting 
the whole visible expanse, including the region 
of the stars, or that at least in which they are 
said to be because they appear therein, and also 
for that portion of the atmosphere in which 
vapors float and clouds are formed. In ver. 14, 
15, and 17 it is used in the former sense, in ver. 
6, 7, 8, and 20, in the latter. In this verse, 
therefore, it stands for the atmosphere or ex- 
panse of clear air which immediately surrounds 
the earth, which bears up the clouds floating in 
it, and in or on the face of wmich the birds are 
described as flying (ver. 20). The atmosphere 
was now to serve the purpose of separating the 
waters in the seas below from those in the clouds 
above. Previously to its formation no such 
separation existed, but dense fogs and vapors 
rested everywhere upon the face of the pri- 
meval and yet universal ocean. And let it 
divide, lit., be dividing, the waters from 
the waters. The use of the participle (Driver, 
Heb. Tenses, \ 135, 5) shows that this disposition 
of the waters was to be a permanent one, having 
the fixity of a law of nature (Num. u : 33 ; Deut. 9 : 

7; Isa. 59 : 2). 



Though .ITP"?' ra kiya, is rendered " firma- 
ment" in our version, and "stereoma" in the 
Septuagint, both of which words convey the 
notion of support and fixity, it denotes, not 
solidity, but expansiveness, as Milton accurately 
describes it : 

The firmament, expanse of liquid, pure, 
Transparent, elemental air, diffused 
In circuit to the uttermost convex 
Of this great round {Par. Lost, Bk. 7). 

When the Hebrews represented the atmos- 
pheric heavens as a semi-spherical vault 
stretched over the earth and its waters (Prov. s : 
27 ; Job 26 : io ; Ps. 104 : 2), " strong as a molten mir- 
ror" (Job 37 : is) , supported by the highest 
mountains, which are therefore called the 
foundations and pillars of heaven (2 Sam. 22 : 8; 
job 26 : u), and as having doors and windows 

(Gen. 7 : 11 ; 28 : 17 ; Ps. 78 : 23), they Spoke of things 

as they appear to be, not as they actually are. 
To credit them with the notion of a solid firma- 
ment, would be to confound poetical metaphor 
with literal prose, optical language with strict 
scientific statement. They understood the " ex- 
panse" of the verses under consideration to be 
aerial, not solid. In the poetical parts of the 
Bible especially, they frequently refer to the 
atmosphere and its phenomena in terms 
which seem to show that the collection of waters 
in the upper reaches of the atmosphere is 
brought about by evaporation (Gen. 2:6; Job 36 : 

27, 28 ; Ps. 135 : 7 ; Job 37 : 11 ; Jer. 10 : 13), and Speak of 

a poising of the clouds on the buoyant air in 
terms suggesting its accomplishment in accord 
with scientific principles (Job 37 : i6).i 



1 [Doctor Driver (Com. on Genesis) in note on 1 : 6, says : " The dome or canopy of heaven . . . was sup- 
posed to be a solid vault (cpmp. Job 37 : 18, ' Canst thou like him beat out the skies, which are strong as a 
molten mirror,' and Prov. 8 : 28a), supported by pillars resting upon the earth (Job 26 : 11 ; Amos 9 : 6, comp. 
2:8; 22 : 8); above this vault there were vast reservoirs of water, which came down, in time of rain, 
through opened sluices (ver. 7 ; 7 : 11 ; Ps. 104 : 3), 'who layeth the beams of his upper chambers in the 
waters '; 13, ' who watereth the mountains from his upper chambers ' (Amos 9:6),' who buildeth his upper 
chambers in the heaven and hath founded his vault upon earth '; and above these waters Jehovah sat 
enthroned." Doctor Harper (Com. on Hosea and Amos, p. 190) and writers of the advanced school gener- 
ally accept this view. Adopting the same literal interpretation of Hebrew poetry, we can reach other and 
also conflicting conclusions as to the belief of the Israelites. Not only has God "beaten out the skies, 
which are strong as a molten mirror," but he "stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain and spreadeth them out 
as a tent to dwell in " (Isa. 40 : 22). Not only is the sky supported by pillars, but the earth also (Job 9 : 6), 
and God is beneath these pillars bearing them up (Ps. 75 : 3). While this is all true, and the earth like- 
Avise has foundations which cannot be moved (Ps. 104 : 5), God has also hung it upon or over nothing (Job 
26 : 7). Did the writers of the Old Testament believe that the rain came down " through opened sluices " 
in the alleged solid dome of the sky? They knew that the rain came from the clouds (Ps. 77 : 17 ; Eccl. 
11:3; Isa. 5 : 6, etc., etc.) which must be under this dome or they could not be seen. Judg. 5 : 4, alleged 
by scholars of the advanced school to be very ancient, regards the heavens dropping water and the clouds 
sending down rain as identical forms of expression, "the heavens also dropped, yea, the clouds dropped 
water" (Gen. 9 : 11-17), attributed by them to the author of Gen. 1 : 6, who is supposed to refer to this 



46 



GENESIS 



[Ch. I. 



7 And God made the firmament, and divided the 
waters which were under the firmament from the 
waters which were above the firmament: and it 
was so. 

8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And 
the evening and the morning were the second day. 

9 And God said, Let the waters under the heaven 
be gathered together unto one place, and let the 
dry land appear : and it was so. 

10 And God called the dry land Earth ; and the 
gathering together of the waters called he Seas: 
aud God saw that it was good. 



7 from the waters. And God made the firmament, 
and divided the waters which were under the 
firmament from the waters which were above 

8 the firmament: and it was so. And God called 
the firmament Heaven. And there was evening 
and there was morning, a second day. 

9 And God said, Let the waters under the 
heaven be gathered together unto one place, 
and let the dry land appear: and it was so. 

10 And God called the dry land Earth ; and the 
gathering together of the waters called he Seas : 



7. And it was so. That is, the expanse 
became fixed and established, as God willed. 
The words, 1 which occur six times in the cre- 
ation record, are sublimely suggestive of the 
omnipotence of the Divine, which speaks, and 
it is done ; commands, and it stands fast. 

8. And God called the firmament 
heaven, lit., heights. The word W.lpW, sha- 
mayim, heaven, is used here as merely another 
name for the expanse. Like ourselves, the 
Hebrews employed the term to designate : (1) 
the atmosphere immediately surrounding the 
earth, where the birds fly (ver. 26) } the winds 
blow (Gen. 8 : i) ; and the showers are formed 
(Deut. 11 : 11) ; (2) the whole region of the sky- 
in which the sun, moon, and stars appear (ver. 1, 
i*) ; and (3) the heaven of heavens, considered 
as the dwelling-place of God. In this verse it 
has the first of these meanings — denotes the 
aerial expanse. 

And there was evening and there was morn- 
ing, a Second day 2 (see under ver. 5). 

9-13. The Third Day of Creation. 
9, 10. The work of the third creative day was 
twofold — first, the separation of land and water ; 
and secondly, the production of vegetation. The 
first was preparatory to the second. [The way 
the separation of land and water took place is 
not stated.] The upheaval of certain portions 
of the sea-bottom which had now become solidi- 



fied, or their depression, or both, would suffice 
to cause the waters of the ocean to flow "to- 
gether unto one place" and make "the dry 
land appear." [Scripture and geology agree in 
declaring a great sea to have covered all the 
earth in the early stages of its shaping into its 
present form. Accepting the days of creation 
as indefinite periods, there is room left in the 
brief statement of ver. 9 for the cooling and 
contraction of the earth's crust, with all the 
convulsions and upheavals which led to the 
lifting up of much of the original ocean bed 
and the draining away of the waters into the 
immense depressions which are the reservoirs 
for our present great seas. Ps. 104 : 6-8 stripped 
of its poetical elements, and as translated in the 
Margin of the K. V., and adopted by Driver, 
is in remarkable accord with geological con- 
clusions. The primeval ocean covers all the 
earth, even the mountains. The waters then 
go down to the place founded for them by, it is 
parenthetically added, the rising of the moun- 
tains and the sinking of the valleys. 3 ] 

" The one place " unto which the waters were 
gathered includes all the basins of the sea, as 
appears from the plural seas, in ver. 10. The 
great seas and oceans constitute, in fact, but one 
body of water, though known by different 
names. 

The term "earth "here is applied to "the 



alleged solid dome, and who had just spoken of the windows of heaven being opened. Gen. 7 : 11, an ex- 
pression which is supposed to be the strongest support of this idea of a solid dome with sluice-ways, evi- 
dently thought the danger of another flood was from the clouds (see 9 : 14) and not from "sluice-ways." 
The opening of the " windows of heaven," as the writer used the expression, evidently was a figurative 
way to describe a pouring rain from the clouds. May it not be that interpreters of the advanced school 
are biased by their desire to make Scripture disagree with the later discoveries of science, and wrest state- 
ments from their real meaning to this end, as conservative exegetes are said by them to do to make it 
agree with them ?] 

1 In the Septuagint they are placed after ver. 6, which may have been their original place, since else- 
where (ver. 9, 11, 15, 24, 30) they stand immediately after the creative fiat, not after its accomplishment. 

2 The Septuagint here inserts the words, " And God saw that it was good." They do not, however, 
appear in the Hebrew, because, probably, of the incompleteness of the creative work at this stage, the 
dry land being not yet visible. 

3 Professors Guyot and Dana divide the six great days of creation into two series of three days each. 
In the first three the creation of inorganic matter takes place ; in the second three the creation of organic 
beings, ending with man. The last day in each series is subdivided again, containing two works, while 
the others contain but one. It is observable, moreover, that each series of days opens with the appear- 
ance of light, that of the first being cosmical, that of the second solar. 



Ch. I.] 



GENESIS 



47 



11 And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, 
the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding 
fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon 
the earth : and it was so. 

12 And the earth brought forth grass, and herb 
yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding 
fruit, whose seed was in itself, alter his kind : and 
God saw that it was good. 

13 And the evening and the morning were the 
hird day. 



dry land " as distinct from the sea — a narrower 
meaning than it bears in ver. 1, where it signi- 
fies the earth in its entirety, and in ver. 2, 
where it designates the chaotic mass. 

God saw that the gathering of the waters into 
seas "was good" ; but "the dry land," which 
as yet is bare and empty, he will not so charac- 
terize till it is clothed with vegetation. 

11-13. These verses describe the second cre- 
ative act of the third day. 

And God said, Let the earth put forth. 
Responsive to the voice of God, three particular 
vegetable products sprang from the earth's 
bosom: (1) Grass — properly, green thing, K&H, 
desher The word denotes plants in their first 
stage, the young tender shoots (Deut. 32 : 2 ; 2 Sam. 

23 : i ; Job 38 : 27 ; Prov. 26 : 25), and especially SUCh 

plants as are propagated from the root rather 
than from the seed. (2) Herb, 3BPX, 'esebh, which 
stands for the whole vegetable world between 
plants and trees. (3) Trees, ¥#, 'ets, the sin- 
gular being used collectively for the plural, as 
is common in Hebrew — which embraces all 
hard-wooded growths, in contradistinction to 
herbs, which have a softer texture. The last 
two words were accurately described as "the 
herb yielding seed after its kind, and the tree 
bearing fruit after its kind, wherein is the seed 
thereof." " In the first word the green leaf or 
blade is prominent ; in the second the stock ; in 
the third the woody texture. In the first the 
seed is not conspicuous ; in the second it is con- 



11 and God saw that it was good. And God said, 
Let the earth put forth grass, herb yielding seed, 
and fruit tree bearing fruit after its kind, where- 
in is the seed thereof, upon the earth: and it 

12 was so. And the earth brought forth grass, 
herb yielding seed after its kind, and tree bear- 
ing fruit, wherein is the seed thereof, after its 

13 kind: and God saw that it was good. And 
there was evening aud there was morning, a 
third day. 



spicuous ; in the third it is enclosed in a fruit 
which is conspicuous " * (Murphy). 

After its kind; 2 that is, after its species. 
Tli is phrase conveys the important truth that 
these species do not run into each other — are 
not developed one from another. Apart from 
the divine word there was nothing in matter 
itself, nor in any of its possible combinations 
or adjustments, that could produce life, either 
vegetable or animal. " Science," says Huxley 
{Brit. Ass. Address), " sees no reason for believ- 
ing that the feat (of vitalizing dead matter) has 
been performed yet." 3 We have here an in- 
stance of the natural originating in the super- 
natural, and then following established law in 
its established order. 4 

14-19. The Fourth Day of Creation. 
With this day the second half of the creative 
week begins. On it was completed the divine 
arrangement for the introduction of animal life 
upon the earth. The four fundamental ele- 
ments of light, air, water, and land have now 
been eliminated from chaos — the light, that it 
might be referred to the sun ; the air and water, 
that they might swarm with fowl and fish ; and 
the land, that it might become the habitation 
of animals and man. 

On this day the light from the sun first shone 
upon the earth ; the day as indicated by sunrise 
and sunset now began ; as also the succession of 
day and night, and of the seasons. "It is evi- 
dent," says Dawson, "that the changes referred 



1 The historical order of their introduction on earth, Dawson says, " so far as the earlier appearance of 
cryptogarnous plants is concerned, is in strict accordance with geological fact." 

2 "In this assertion of the distinctness of species, and the production of each as a distinct part of the 
creative plan, revelation tallies perfectly with the conclusions of natural science, which lead us to believe 
that each species, as observed by us, is permanently reproductive, variable within narrow limits, and 
incapable of permanent intermixture with other species; and though hypotheses of modification by 
descent, and of the production of new species by such modification may be formed, they are not in 
accordance with experience, and are still among the unproved speculations which haunt the outskirts of 
true science " (Dawson). 

3 [The tentative claim recently made by Professor Loeb to have succeeded in accomplishing "spon- 
taneous generation " has not been favorably received by scientists. The phenomena on which he bases 
it are thought to be capable of another explanation.] 

4 [Vegetable is said here to have preceded animal life. There is no trace, however, of vegetable life in 
the geological formations earlier than those in which animal fossils appear. But vegetable must have 
preceded animal life from the nature of the case. Animal life subsists upon vegetable life or upon other 
animals which subsist upon it. The traces of vegetable life in these earlier formations have probably 
been destroyed by the metamorphoses to which they have been subjected, as Guyot and others point out.] 



48 



GENESIS 



[Ch. J, 



14 Aud God said, Let there be lights in the firma- 
ment of the heaven to divide the day from the 
night ; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, 
and for days, and years : 

15 And let them be for lights in the firmament of 
the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it 
was so. 

16 And God made two great lights; the greater 
light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule 
the night : he made the stars also. 

17 And God set them in the firmament of the 
heaven to give light upon the earth, 

18 And to rule over the day and over the night, 
and to divide the light from the darkness : and God 
saw that it was good. 

19 And the evening and the morning were the 
fourth day. 



1 i And God said, Let there be lights in the firma- 
ment of the heaven to divide the day from the 
night ; and let them be for signs, and for sea- 

15 sons, and for days and years : aud let them be 
for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give 

16 light upon the earth : and it was so. And God 
made the two great lights ; the greater light to 
rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the 

17 night : he made the stars also. And God set 
them in the firmament of the heaven to give light 

18 upon the earth, and to rule over the day and 
over the night, and to divide the light from the 

19 darkness : and God saw that it was good. And 
there was evening and there was morning, a 
fourth day. 



to this season related to the whole solar system, 
and resulted in the completion of that system 
in the form which it now bears, or at least in 
the final adjustment of the motions and rela- 
tions of the earth ; and we have reason to be- 
lieve that the condensation of the luminous 
envelope around the sun was one of the most 
important of these changes." 

14, 15. The specific work of the first day 
was the production of light ; on the fourth, the 
sun and moon were made the permanent centers 
of its radiation. On the first day the command 
was : " Let there be light " (or) ; on the fourth : 
"Let there be lights," rH&P, mg'oroth — prop- 
erly, light-bearers, spoken of lamps and caudle- 
sticks (Exod. 25 : 6; Num. 4 : 9, 16). 

These luminaries were to serve a threefold 
purpose: (1) To divide the day from the 
night, that is, to regulate the alternations of 
light and darkness. (2) To be for signs, 

JV.ni$, 'othoth, of the weather, of the different 
quarters of heaven, and of extraordinary events 

( Jer. 10 : 2 ; Ps. 65 : 8 ; Isa. 8 : 18 ; Matt. 2:2; 24 : 29 ; Luke 

21:25). And for seasons — better, set times, 
DH^.iD, mo'adhim. The word denotes any 
stated place, as ' tent of meeting ' (Exod. 40 : 35), 
or stated time (Gen. 17 : 21). It is thus used of 
yearly returning periods (Gen. is -.u) y of stated 
annual festivals (Ps- 104 : 19; zech. 8 : 19) , of the 
time of the migration of birds (Jer. 8:7), and 
of the seasons suitable to the various occupations 
of man. And for days and years, that is, 
for the reckoning of time, the day and the year 
being the chief units of measure for this pur- 
pose. Hung in the sky, these lights were to 
serve as man's unerring chronometer. (3) To 
give light upon the earth — not, as Ave have 
seen, by introducing light for the first time to 



the earth, but by distributing the light already 
called into existence. 

16-19. And God made (not created) the 
two great lights. The word HK^, 'asah, 
rendered, "made," though sometimes having the 
sense " created " (1 = 26 ,• comp. 1 : 27), is here to be 
taken in the lower sense "arranged" or "ap- 
pointed," as in Ps. 104 : 19 ; 1 Sam. 12 : 6 ; 
1 Kings 12 : 31. They are called "great," not 
from an astronomical point of view, but in ref- 
erence to their appearance to the inhabitants of 
earth. The fact that many of the fixed stars far 
surpass in magnitude the sun and moon, is not 
affected by this declaration. The language of 
the writer is geocentric and phenomenal, not 
scientific. 1 

The stars also. This parenthetical refer- 
ence to the stars, which stand for all the celestial 
orbs but the sun and moon (Ps. 1*8 : 3) ( may mean 
that they were regarded merely as companions 
of the sun and moon to replace their light when 
not visible, or the statement may have been to 
guard against the notion that there were any 
luminaries which were not the work of God, and 
to prevent the Hebrews, for whom the book was 
written, from copying the star-gazing and star- 
worshiping practices of the heathen (Jer. 10 : 2 ; 

19 : 13 ; Isa. 47 : 13 ; Ezek. 8 : 16). 

20-23. The Fifth Day of Creation. A 
striking correspondence is observable respec- 
tively between the first three days of the creative 
week and the second three, that is, between the 
first day and the fourth, the second and the fifth, 
the third and the sixth. Thus, as already seen, 
light marked the ushering in of the first and the 
fourth days. The primeval light of the first 
day became the solar light of the fourth. So, 
with regard to the second and fifth days. The 



1 [When in ver. 16 it is said God made the two great lights : the greater light to rule the day and the 
lesser light to rule the night, does it mean that God both brought sun and moon into being at this time 
and also made them rule day and night, or only that he then made them to rule day and night? In the 
latter case, no statement is here made as to their creation, just as in parallel statements, Jeroboam "made 
Israel to sin " (1 Kings 14 : 16), and Jehoshaphat " made ships of Tarshish to go to Ophir " (1 Kings 22 : 48), 
nothing is affirmed of the making of Israel or the ships, although an identical form of expression is used.] 



Ch. I.] 

20 And God said, Let the waters bring forth 
abundantly the moving creature that hath life, 
and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open 
rirrnanient of heaven. 

21 And God created great whales, and every 
living creature that moveth, which the waters 
brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and 
every winged fowl after his kind : and God saw 
that it was good. 

22 And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, 
and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and 
let fowl multiply in the earth. 



GENESIS 



49 



20 And God said, Let the waters bring forth 
abundantly the moving creature that hath life, 
and let fowl fly above the earth in the open 

21 firmament of heaven. And God created the 
great sea-monsters, and every living creature 
that moveth, which the waters brought forth 
abundantly, after their kinds, and every winged 
fowl after its kind : and God saw that it was 

22 good. And God blessed them, saying, Be fruit- 
ful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, 



second was anticipative of the fifth, when the as 
yet tenantless air and waters — the destined ele- 
ments of birds and fishes — received their count- 
less occupants. 

20, 21. In these verses three great classes of 
animals are specified under as many names, 
namely, t^D"}, revues, creeping thing, D'J^ri, tan- 
ninim, sea-monsters, and ^ty, 'oph, fowl. The 
first two are comprehended under the general 
term j'lEf, sherets, from }'")$, sharats, to swarm, 

tO propagate rapidly (Gen. 8 : 17 ; Exod. 1 : 7 ; 8:3; 

Ps. 105 : 30 ) ; which properly designates all crea- 
tures that crawl and swarm, whether of land or 
sea. In the very precise zoological nomencla- 
ture of Lev. chap. 11 it is applied to fishes in the 
sea {ret. 9, io), to insects — "winged creeping 

things" (ver. 20-23, comp. Deut. 14:19), to Various 

species of land animals (ver. 29, 31 ) t and to rep- 
tiles and saurians (ver. «, 42). Dawson regards 
it as "a general term for all the invertebrate 
animals, and the two lower classes of verte- 
brates," and concludes that "the prolific ani- 
mals of the fifth day's creation belonged to the 
three Cuvierian sub-kingdoms of the Radiata, 
Articulata, and Mollusca, and to the classes of 
fish and reptiles among the vertebrata." 

The language is expressive of marvelous 
fecundity: Let the waters bring forth 
abundantly the moving creature, or, as in 
the Margin, which more literally renders the 
Hebrew : Let the waters swarm with sivarms. 1 

That hath life, that is, that live by breath- 
ing, JTn Wp), nephesh, chayah. The word 
nephesh (breath, soul, from' W22, naphash, to 
breathe), corresponding nearly with the classi- 
cal ^xh, denotes the animal principle, the vital 
element, the seat of the feelings and affections, 



and living beings themselves (see under 2:7). 
Vegetables have life, indeed, are living organ- 
isms, and thus widely distinguished from inor- 
ganic matter; but the life-principle of the 
animal kingdom is higher than that of the vege- 
table. 2 In respect of life, the tiniest insect is 
greater than the sun. 

And let fowl fly. 3 The erroneous render- 
ing of the original in the A. V. conveys the 
idea that the birds were evolved from the water, 
which is contrary to 2 : 19. There was no in- 
herent virtue in the water and air to produce 
their respective inhabitants. They — prepared 
for this purpose — were simply the elements in 
and through which the Divine energy wrought. 
The power that spanned the gulf between the 
insensate clod and the plant, could alone span 
that between the plant and the animal. 

The word rendered "sea-monsters," D'T^H, 
tanninim, means literally long or extended crea- 
tures, from J JH, tanan, to stretch. It is used of 
serpents (Exod. 8 : 9, 10, 12; p s . 91 : i3) ? to which 
poison is ascribed (Deut. 52 : 33) ; of the crocodile, 

as a symbol of Egypt (Ps. 74 : 13; Isa. 51 : 9; Ezek. 
29 : 3 ; 32 : 2) ; of Sea-monsterS (Job 7 : 12 ; Isa. 27 : 1 ; 

Ps. 148 : 7) — symbol of the all-devouring Babylo- 
nian power (Jer. 51 : 34). From a comparison of 
the fourteen passages in which it occurs, we 
gather that the word stands for serpents, croco- 
diles, and other huge saurians, and possibly 
also for any large monster of sea or river. 

And God created. As an absolutely new 
thing, namely, animal life, is now introduced 
upon the earth, K*}3, bara, is employed, as in 
ver. 1. 

22, 23. And God blessed them, saying, 
be fruitful and multiply ; that is, he blessed 



^ 1 The fish n, dagh, is by etymology a multiplier. It has been said that "the unchecked produce of one 
pair of herrings or mackerel would in a very few years crowd the Atlantic." Well might the psalmist 
speak of the " things creeping innumerable " of the sea (Ps. 104 : 25), and Milton of " reptile with spawn 
abundant." 

2 "It may be impossible by the most acute microscopic analysis to differentiate the protoplasmic cell 
of vegetable matter from that of animal organisms, and plants may appear to be possessed of functions 
that resemble those of animals, yet the two are generically different — vegetable protoplasm never 
weaving animal texture, and plant fiber never issuing from the loom of animal protoplasm " (Whitelaw). 

3 Here too, the idea of multitude is expressed The Pilel form of the verb shows that a great number 
of birds is meant (Dillmann). 

D 



50 



23 And the evening and the morning were the 
fifth day. 

24 And God said, Let the earth bring forth the 
living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping 
thing, and beast of the earth after his kind : and 
it was so. 

25 And God made the beast of the earth after his 
kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing 
that creepeth upon the earth after his kind : and 
God saw that it was good. 

26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, 



GENESIS [Ch. I. 

23 and let fowl multiply in the earth. And there 
was evening and there was morning, a fifth day. 

24 And God said, Let the earth bring forth the 
living creature after its kind, cattle, and creep- 
ing thing, and beast of the earth after its kind : 

25 and it was so. And God made the heart of the 
earth after its kind, and the cattle after their 
kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the 
ground after its kind : and God saw that it was 

26 good. And God said, Let us make man in our 



them by giving them the power of continued and 
indefinite multiplication (Gen. 24:60; 48:4; p 8 . 
128 : 3, 4). God did not bless the work of the 
previous days, though he pronounced it good, 
for the stage of animated existence had not yet 
been reached ; but now that life — abounding, 
rejoicing life— has come upon the scene, he ex- 
presses his complacency in words of benedic- 
tion. 1 

24-31. The Sixth Day of Creation. 
This day, like the third of the first triad, is dis- 
tinguished by a double creative act, the pro- 
duction of the land animals and man. 

24. The " living creature " in this verse and 
"that hath life" in ver. 20 stands here generic- 
ally for all the land animals. They are pre- 
sented under three classes: (1) Cattle. The 
Hebrew word nnn^l, behemah, while sometimes 
used of all the mammalia (i Kiugs 4 : sa ; ps. 147 : 9), 
and sometimes exclusively of wild beasts (Deut. 

30 : 24; Hab. 2 : 17 ; Isa. 18 : 6), is niOre Commonly 

applied to the non-predacious, graminivorous 
domestic animals. (2) Creeping thing, that 
is, worms and reptiles.,. The original word' is 
applied in Ps. 104 : 25 to animals inhabiting the 
water, but here to those on land (ver. 25). (3) 



Beast of the earth, that is, the wilder and 
fiercer beasts, as distinguished from domestic 
animals. 2 

26. Attention is now turned to the last and 
crowning work of the sixth day, the creation 
of man. The house having been built, fur- 
nished, and adorned, its illustrious tenant is put 
in possession of it. Toward this end, and as 
preparatory to it, God had been working 
through the preceding ages. In man, made in 
the image of God, creation reached its goal, 
received its finishing touch. 

That man was the intended end of all the 
creations that had preceded him, appears from 
the fact that from the moment of his creation 
there was an absolute cessation of new species of 
vegetable and animal life. 

The importance attached in the biblical 
record to man's creation is indicated by the 
august manner in which it is introduced. The 
language is suggestive of pause and deliberation. 
Previously to this it had been said, " Let there 
be light," "Let the waters bring forth," "Let 
the earth bring forth " ; but now it is : Let «s 
make man. Various explanations have been 
given of this plural ("us"). Our own view 



1 The Mosaic narrative makes it plain that while the plant prepared the way for the animal by supply- 
ing the conditions of its existence and growth, there was thought to be no causal relation between them. 
Each was an independent creation. The expressions "make," "form," "let the waters bring forth," 
lend "no countenance," says Dawson, " to the idea either of the spontaneous evolution of living beings 
under the influence of merely physical causes and without creative intervention, or of the transmutation 
of one kind of animal into another. . . If we ask whether any thing is known to science which can give 
even a decided probability to the notion that living beings are parts of an undirected evolution proceed- 
ing under merely dead insentient forces, and without intention, the answer must be emphatically no. . . 
No mode is known whereby the properties of life can be communicated to dead matter." 

" A minute examination has not, up to this time," says Lord Kelvin, "discovered any power capable 
of originating life, but life itself. Inanimate matter cannot become living except under the influence of 
matter already living. This is a fact in science which seems to me as well ascertained as the law of 
gravitation. . . And I am ready to accept as an article of faith in science, valid for all time and in all 
space, that life is produced by life, and only by life. 1 ' 

2 According to the testimony of geology, " the quadrupeds did not all come forth together. Large and 
powerful herbivora firnt take the field, with only a few carnivora. These pass away. Other herbivora, with 
a larger proportion of carnivora, next appear. These also are exterminated, and so with others. Then 
the carnivora appear in vast numbers and power, and the herbivora also abound. Moreover, these races 
attain a magnitude and number far surpassing all that now exist. As the mammalian age draws to a 
close, the ancient carnivora and herbivora of that era all pass away, excepting, it is believed, a few that are 
useful to man " (Dana). 

"The coincidences between this period and the Tertiary era of geologists are very marked and strik- 
ing. During the whole Tertiary period this predominance of the mammalia continued ; and as the 
Mesozoic was the period of giant reptiles, so the Tertiary was that of great mammals " (Dawson). 



Ch. I.] 



GENESIS 



51 



after our likeness: and Jet them have dominion 
over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the 
air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and 
over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the 
earth. 

27 So God created man in his own image, in the 
image of God created he him ; male and female 
created he them. 



image, after our likeness: and let them have 
dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the 
fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all 
the earth, and over every creeping thing that 
27 creepeth upon the earth. And God created man 
in his own image, in the image of God created 
he him ; male and female created he them. 



may be gathered from our remarks under ver. 1. 
The interpretation that God takes counsel with 
the angels (Delitzsch), or with the earth (Mai- 
monides), or with himself (Kalisch), or that he 
speaks after the manner of earthly princes 
(which royal style was much later than the 
time of Moses and does not occur in the Hebrew 
Scriptures — Ezra 4 : 18 and 7 : 24 are Chaldaic, 
and cannot be quoted as settling Hebrew 7 usage), 
or that Moses, though habitually attaching a 
singular verb to plural nominatives, yet here 
forgot himself and unconsciously adopted the 
plural (Yon Bohlen), or that Elohim is to be 
regarded as a relic of ancient polytheism — these 
interpretations, in our opinion, must be set 
aside for that which regards the expression as 
suggesting the plenitude and manifoldness of 
the divine nature, and as thus foreshadowing 
the mystery of the Trinity which was afterward 
to be more fully revealed. The pronoun " our " 
qualifying "image" and "likeness," points to 
the same conclusion (comp. Gen. 3 : 22 ; 11 : 7). The 
Hebrew readily adapts itself to the expression 
of unity in plurality, or plurality in unity, by 
employing nouns which occur only in the 
plural, while yet they are joined to verbs in 
the singular, and in other languages are prop- 
erly translated by singular nouns, e. g., Wftp, 
shamayim, heaven, D^D, mayim, water, D^JS, 
panim, face or faces, □ ,, n, chayyim, life, to 
which Crri^K, Elohim, God, may be added. 

In our image, after our likeness. The 
Greek and Latin Fathers make a distinction 
between D^V, tselem, image, and n^"}, demuth 
likeness, referring the former to the physical, 
and the latter to the ethical side of man's like- 
ness to God. But a comparison of ver. 27 and 
9 : 6, where only the first occurs, with ver. 1, 
which employs only the second, though the 
same thing is evidently meant, does not favor 
this view. Their indiscriminate use in these 
passages proves them to be synonymous, the 
second being added simply to emphasize the 
first. 

The image of God in which man was created 
did not consist in his erect form or features, nor 
solely in his intellect, nor yet in his immortality 
— for he has not like God a past as well as 
future eternity of being ; but rather in the moral 
dispositions of his soul, in those qualities of 



mind and heart which constitute him a subject 
of God's law, capable of knowing God and hold- 
ing fellowship with him. The rational, moral, 
and spiritual nature of man are all included in 
the image of God. As the new creation is only 
a restoration of this image, the history of the one 
sheds light on the other ; we are informed that 
it is renewed after the image of God in knowl- 
edge, righteousness, and holiness of truth (Coi. 
3:10; Eph. i : 24). The possibility of renewal 
shows that the Divine image in man, though 
impaired and darkened by sin, has not been en- 
tirely effaced and destroyed (Gen. 9 : 6 ; 1 cor. 11 : 7 ,• 
jamea 3:9). The moral image of God was lost, 
indeed, in the fall, but his natural image [ — rea- 
son and conscience] remained, as the soul's 
permanent rational and moral substratum, and 
furnishes a basis for the work of redeeming 
grace. 

Through the intellectual, moral, and spiritual 
nature which man received from God, he be- 
came qualified to exercise dominion over nature 
as God's representative, and to conduct it to the 
highest development. 

And let them have dominion. The plu- 
ral (" them") is employed, because not simply 
an individual but a race was about to be called 
into existence. The term Adam is used in a 
collective sense for mankind, as the plural verb 
nv, yirdu, made, also shows. The sphere 
and range of man's lordship should embrace 
"all the earth" and the whole animal creation. 
Of the latter, "the fish of the sea," " the fowl of 
the air," "the cattle," and "every creeping 
thing " are specified. All these, wild and tame, 
predaceous and harmless, should, willingly or 
by constraint, yield to man's sway (ps. 8:6-8; 

James 3:7). 

27. The threefold repetition of the term ' ' cre- 
ated " in this verse should not be overlooked, 
inasmuch as it is a threefold proclamation of 
man's original creation. We have here the 
first instance of parallelism of members. The 
rhythmical clauses become a song of jubilation 
over the creation of man. 

Male and female created he them ; or, 
more correctly, a male and a female created he 
them. Had the writer wished to indicate that 
the race has descended from more than one 
pair, he would have used the nouns in the 



52 



GENESIS 



[Ch. I. 



28 And God blessed them, and God said unto 
them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the 
earth, and subdue it : and have dominion over the 
fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and 
over every living thing that moveth upon the 
earth. 

29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every 
herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all 
the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit 
of a tree yielding seed ; to you it shall be for meat. 

30 And to every beast of the earth, and to every 
fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth 
upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given 
every green herb for meat : and it was so. 

plural form. By the creation of the woman, 
more fully detailed in the next chapter, the 
sexual relation was established, provision made 
for the growth and continuance of the race, and 
that conjugal bond created by which society 
might be maintained incorrupt and blessed. 
The law of the marriage relation was ordained 
to the effect that the man should have but one 
wife, and the wife but one husband. The human 
race was to be multiplied by generation, indeed, 
but by generation under the sacred tie of the 
marriage bond, and not by promiscuous inter- 
course, as with the lower animals. These words 
are quoted by our Lord and made the ground of 
his condemnation of divorce (Matt, w : i -, oomp. 

Mark 10 : 6). 

28. And God blessed them ; not simply 
as he had blessed the animal world, with the 
power of multiplication (ver. 22 ) } but also with 
supremacy over earth, air, and sea, and every 
creature and substance pertaining to them. 

Replenish (fill) the earth, and subdue 
it ; that is, occupy it, and bring it under con- 
trol. To what extent the command to " occupy 
the earth" was carried out in the first age of 
the world, or previous to the flood, we have no 
means of knowing. The tenth chapter of Gen- 
esis shows how it was divided among the sons 
and descendants of Noah. To a greater extent, 
perhaps, than any other, has the Anglo-Saxon 
obeyed this injunction, which has been called 
" the colonist's charter." 

The subjugation by man of the elements and 
forces of nature was to be a gradual one, as the 
words " subdue it" imply. His dominion over 
nature should grow, as his knowledge of its 
laws and powers became more perfect. There is 
no reason to suppose that he possessed a perfect 
insight into nature and its laws, nor that nature, 
by a kind of magical response to his wishes, 
rendered unnecessary all labor on his part. 
He was rather a child in understanding, and 
maturity of mind and increase of knowledge 
were to be gained through study and research. 
To obtain the means of subsistence he was to 
"till the ground," and not depend solely upon 



28 And God blessed them : and God said unto them- 
Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the 
earth, and subdue it ; and have dominion over 
the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, 
and over every living thing that moveth u pon the 

29 earth. And God said, Behold, I have given you 
every herb yielding seed, which is upon the face 
of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is 
the fruit of a tree yielding seed ; to you it shall 

30 be for meat: and to every beast of the earth, 
and to every fowl of the air, and 'to every thing 
that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is 
life, I have given every green herb for meat : and 



its spontaneous productions. Stored in the 
bowels of the earth were all the minerals and 
metals which the most advanced civilizations 
would require to the end of time, but man's 
energy and skill would be needed to discover 
them and adapt them to their ten thousand 
useful and ornamental purposes. 

In the work of subduing the earth, man's in- 
ventive and reflective powers have been mar- 
velously stimulated and developed. His rest- 
less, inquisitive, daring spirit, essaying to scale 
all heights, to fathom all depths, to solve all 
mysteries, pursues its venturesome flight along 
the dizzy verge of the infinite, and beats its 
wings against the very rim of the universe. 

But God's purpose in the creation of man 
contemplated more than his natural lordship 
over the earth. The earth was to be subdued 
for holy and benevolent ends. Man's achieve- 
ments in the physical realm were to subserve 
and be eclipsed by those in the moral and spir- 
itual. The creation of man in the divine image 
was a necessary step to the Incarnation. God 
would dwell, indeed, among men, and for this 
purpose "prepared" himself a "body" (Heb. 
10 : 5). He would come into the district which 
sin had invaded by espousing the nature which 
sin had ruined. The disaster which should 
come to the race in consequence of the fall of 
the first Adam would be repaired, and more 
than repaired, through the gracious interposi- 
tion of the second Adam. 

29, 30. These verses tell of the provision 
made for the sustentation of man and of the 
lower animals. Of the three classes of the vege- 
table creation named in ver. 12 — grass, herbs, 
and trees, the first is assigned to the inferior 
animals, and the productions of the second and 
third to man. 

These words, taken in connection with 9:3, 
have usually been understood to mean that 
animal food was forbidden to man until after 
the flood. Thit is probably the correct view ; 
but it is one tnat cannot be very positively af- 
firmed. As favoring the view of its earlier use, 
it is contended that animal food is mentioned 



Ch. II.] 



GENESIS 



53 



31 And God saw every thing that he had made, 
and, behold, it was very good. And the evening 
and the morning were the sixth day. 



31 it was so. And God saw every thing that he 
had made, and, behold, it was very good. And 
there was evening and there was morning, the 
sixth day. 



CHAPTER II. 



1 THUS the heavens and the earth were finished, | 1 
and all the host of them. j 2 

2 And on the seventh day God ended his work 
which he had made ; and he rested on the seventh 
day from all his work which he had made. 

3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanc- 



AND the heaven and the earth were finished, 
and all the host of them. And on the seventh 
day God finished his work which he had made ; 
and he rested on the seventh day from all his 
work which he had made. And God blessed the 
seventh day, and hallowed it : because that in 



in 9 : 3, not in a prohibitive sense, but in the 
way of showing that it should not be eaten with 
the blood (9 : *), which practice may have pre- 
vailed to a greater or less extent. It is main- 
tained that the permission to eat vegetable food 
is not really a prohibition to eat animal ; that 
as only " the green herb " is allotted to animals 
which were confessedly flesh-eating, so the 
herbs allotted to man cannot be taken as ex- 
clusive of animal food ; moreover, that while 
man's supremacy over the animal creation in- 
volved his right to use them for food, the struc- 
ture of his teeth and alimentary canal indicates 
that such was the divine intention. Death was 
in the world before the fall ; and after the fall, 
the covering of our first parents with skins, and 
the offering of the firstlings of the flock in sac- 
rifice, involved the slaughter of animals. It 
was "the law of sacrificing rightly," says Cal- 
vin, "not to offer unto God anything except 
what he has granted to our use." 

31. This verse records the pleasure with 
which God contemplated the finished creation. 
At the close of each of the previous days, he 
pronounced the work "good"; but now that 
the magnificent arch — building through a mil- 
lion centuries — has received its keystone ; now 
that chaos has become cosmos, arranged, 
adorned, and filled with organized, sentient, 
and rational beings; now that man has come 
upon the scene, creation's crown and glory, 
there is a burst of rejoicing: "Behold, it was 
good exceedingly." As specially marking this 
day, it has the article prefixed — "the sixth 
day." i 

Chap. 2. 1-3. The Institution of the 

Sabbath. These three verses should have been 
joined to the account given in the first chapter. 
The division should have been made at ver. 4, 
which begins another account. 
1. The host of them (or, their host) ; that 



is, the totality of the constituents of heaven and 
earth as forming an organized whole. The word 
fcOV, tsabha, host, is elsewhere applied only to 
the host of heaven, that is, to the heavenly 

bodies (Deut. 4 : 19; Isa. 34 : 4 ; 40 : 26), and to the 
angels (l Kings 22 : 19 ; 2 Chron. 18 : 18 ; Ps. 148 : 2). 

When applied to earthly beings, it designates 
only a multitude of men (isa. 34 : 2). Here, by 
the figure zeugma, it includes all the creatures 

Of earth (coinp. Neh. 9:6). 

2. Finished ; not had made, or, had finished, 
as some render the word. To avoid the inference 
that God finished his work on the seventh day, 
which the English version seems to favor, the 
Septuagint, Samaritan, and Syriac versions in- 
sert the sixth day in the text instead of the 
seventh ; but without proper authority. The 
meaning is not, that on the seventh day God con- 
tinued and finished his yet incompleted work, 
but that on the seventh day he ceased from prose- 
cuting his already completed work. This agrees 
precisely with HTO, kalah, he finished, which 
signifies " to leave off" as well as " bring to an 

end " (Exod 34 : 33 ; 1 Sam. 10 : 13 ; 2 Sam. 6 : 18 ; Ezek. 
43 : 23). 

He rested on the seventh day— not from 
weariness (isa. 40 : 28), but in the divine satisfac- 
tion with which he contemplated what he had 
wrought (Exod. 3i : n : Ps. 10431). He rested 
(ceased) from creating, and not in the sense of 
becoming inactive or withdrawing from the 
world. In the preservation and renewal of the 
world he would continue to work (John 5 : 17). 

3. And God blessed the seventh day, 
gave it peculiar eminence and distinction above 
the other days of the week ; and sanctified, 
hallowed, it, set it apart for holy purposes. God's 
resting from the work of creation is assigned as 
the reason for his blessing and hallowing the 
seventh day. His example in this regard was 
intended to be influential with man for whom 
the sabbath was made (Mark 2 : 27), and to whom, 



1 The article, however, is prefixed only to the adjective— a deviation from the ordinary rule regarding 
definite nouns. But common words like day are sometimes treated as definite in themselves, and may 
then dispense with the article (comp. 2 :3— the seventh day; 1 Kings 8 : 12— the great court; 2 Chron. 23 : 20— 
the upper gate. Ewald, \ 293, a ; Ges., § 111, 2, b). 



54 



GENESIS 



tified it: because that in it he had rested from all 
his work which God created and made. 



[Ch. II. 



it he rested from all his work which God had 
created and made. 



as God's first great gift, it was given. Instituted 
for man, and blessed by God for his sake, its 
proper observance would be connected with the 
choicest temporal and spiritual blessings (isa. 

58 : 13). 

What, then, is included in its proper observ- 
ance? More, certainly, than resting from toil 
a seventh portion of the time, however dis- 
tributed through the week — for thus man might 
give his rainy days to the Lord, and save the 
fair ones for himself; but rather by resting 
every seventh day. And the rest must be from 
all toil, whether of the brain or of the hand. 
Time must be had for that recuperation of the 
mental and physical powers which comes only 
through rest. Yet this rest must not be the rest 
of the sluggard. A cessation from carking 
worldly pursuits must be combined with an 
active turning of the soul toward God and 
heaven, and with efforts for the world's spirit- 
ual betterment. As God rested on the seventh 
day from his work of creating, while yet he 
continued and continues to work in the king- 
dom of his providence and grace, so man, in 
imitation of his example, must abstain on that 
day from his secular occupations, and concern 
himself with sacred and eternal things. Statis- 
tics abundantly prove that both man and the 
animals which he employs in his service do 
more work, live longer, and enjoy more with 
the rest which the Sabbath secures to them, 
than when they are deprived of it. 

Which God created and made; lit., 
which God created to make. These words have 
been variously explained. Kalisch, Alford, 
and others make the second verb epexegetic of 
the first, as in the phrase " spoke, saying," lit- 
erally, "spoke to speak" (Exod. 6 : 10). The 



Vulgate understands the infinitive in a telic 
sense : ' ' Which God created that he might make 
it." The Targum of Onkelos and the Syriac 
version favor the literal rendering, which, on 
the whole, is to be preferred. It is substantially 
the rendering of Ewald and Dillmann: "In 
making which he had created," that is, "which 
he had made creatively " (comp. judg. is : 19 ; p s . 106 : 
2; joei 2 : 21, 22). The natural meaning of the 
words is that God first created the material of 
"the heavens and the earth," and then molded 
and fashioned this material into its multifarious 
forms and organisms. So Rabbi Nachmanides : 
"All his work which he had created out of noth- 
ing, in order that he might make out of it all 
the works which are recorded in the six days." 
God's resting on the seventh day is not followed 
by the usual formula, " and there was evening 
and there was morning," for the reason that it 
is still in progress, and will continue till the 
course of human history has been run and the 
promise is fulfilled, " Behold, I make all things 

new " (Rev. 21 : 5 ; comp. Isa. 65 : 17 : 2 Peter 3 : 13),1 

4-25. Continued Account of the Crea- 
tion of the World and of Man. We say 
continued account of the creation, rather than 
second or duplicate account, which some of the 
critics are wont to apply to this section, for the 
following reasons : (1) It does not profess to be 
an account of the creation, but only a sequel 
thereto. (2) It omits the majority of the items 
embraced in the account given in chap. 1. (3) 
By relating the particulars concerning the sepa- 
rate formation of Adam and Eve and their 
settlement and trial in Eden — which particulars 
it did not consist with the writer's plan to give 
in chap. 1, it becomes a fitting preliminary to 
the story of their temptation and fall in chap. 3. 2 



1 [According to Doctor Driver (see also Dillmann) "the idea of the writer seems to have been that 
God's sabbath intervened between the close of his work of creation and the commencement of . . . his 
sustaining providence,'' and was not thought to cover all the time since creation was finished. His argu- 
ment for this view is that the writer would continue to use the word " day " here as in the previous verses, 
and that up to this time it was thought to be a solar day of twenty-four hours. This assumes that the 
other "days" have been proved to refer to natural days and not periods, which cannot be conceded. It 
also assumes that the author of this account thought either that the universe could sustain itself for just 
twenty-four hours without God's power, or he represented God as not sustaining creation for that time, 
although he "tacitly presupposed ' his sustaining providence never ceased. The fact that the formula 
"there was evening and there was morning " used to describe the beginning and ending of the other 
"days" is omitted in connection with the seventh is best explained as above, and as by Delitzsch and 
others, on the ground that this day was thought to extend on indefinitely.] 

2 [According to the documentary hypothesis of the newer criticism, 1 : 1 to 2 : 4a is ascribed to P, 
alleged to have been put forth after the captivity in Babylon, while 2 : 4b to 5 : 1, is attributed to J, 
with the exception of a few additions by a redactor, alleged to have been written about four hundred 
years before. The accounts of creation in the two are said to be independent and in the most direct 



Ch. II.] 



GENESIS 



55 



4 These are the generations of the heavens and 
of the earth when they were created, in the day 



4 These are the generations of the heaven and 
of the earth when they were created, in the day 



4. These are the generations is the 

formula with which the larger sections of Gene- 
sis are introduced, with the exception of 5 : 1 to 
6 : 8, which has, " This is the book of the gen- 
erations," and 1 : 1 to 2 : 3 which, as it is pure 
revelation and relates only the acts of God, 
could not properly take it, being thus distin- 
guished from the remaining sections. The word 
nVv'iP, toledhoth, generations, occurs only in 
the plural construct state, and when it stands 
before a proper name signifies "generations" 
in the sense of those who are brought forth, or, 
the details about those tvho spring from any one, 
or, family history. Hence, as the title of a 
book or chapter, it stands for the history of the 
families springing from any one. The formula 

OCCUrS eleven times (2:4; 5 : 1 ; 6:9; 10 : 1 ; 11 : 10, 

27 ; 25 : 12, 19 ; 36 : i, 9 ; 37 : 2), and the several sec- 
tions of which it is the common heading, being 
genealogical in character, give this character to 
the book, and successively mark the line of 
descent from Adam to Jacob and his posterity. 
Its special reference is always to what follows. 
Just as the "generations " of Adam (5 : i), Noah 
(6:9), etc., mean, not the ancestry of Adam, 
Noah, etc., but their descendants, so here. " The 
generations of the heavens and of the earth " 
denotes, not their origin, or how they were 
brought into being — that is related in the pre- 
ceding chapter, but "their progeny, so to speak, 



that which sprang from them, man the child of 
heaven and earth — his body formed from the 
dust of the ground, his spirit breathed into him 
by God himself," and the beginning of his 
history. 

Such, then, being the meaning of the formula, 
it follows that this section cannot be regarded 
as a duplicate account of the creation. To 
evade, however, the force of this reasoning, 
some of the critics would detach the formula 
from this section and append it to the preceding 
one as a summary of its contents. But, as Pro- 
fessor Green has conclusively shown, this is in- 
admissible for various reasons: 1. It violates 
"the uniform analogy of the whole series of 
similar titles, which invariably stand at the 
head, never at the close of the section which 
they describe." 2. By retaining its connection 
with this section, the immediately following 
clause will sustain to it precisely the relation 
which the second clause in 5 : 1 sustains to its 
first clause, and the two verses (2 : 4 aud 5 : i) will 
thus be seen to be identical in structure. 3. If 
2 : 4a be subscribed to the preceding section, then 
this section (2 : 4 to 4 : 26) will be without a title, 
and the first section (1 : 1 to 2 : 3) will have two — a 
suitable one at the beginning, and an unsuitable 
one at the end. 4. If this section (2 : 4b to chap. 4) ( 
which the critics ascribe to the Jehovist, be ex- 
cluded, and the previous section ending with 



opposition, instead of 2 : 4b, seq., being a more particular account of man's creation and nature, aud 
dwelling-place, as leading up to his probation and fall as above. 

But the view that we have duplicate and conflicting accounts of creation has against it very serious 
general objections, of which two may be mentioned. It is supposed that the post-exilic account of 1 : 1 
to 2 : 4a, was prepared four hundred years after that of 2 : 4b seq., had become current in Israel, to give the 
alleged new legislation of Leviticus a setting in a history reaching back to the beginning and. in this 
way, make the people more favorably disposed toward it. But the older account had been written down 
and fixed for four hundred years. The people had accepted it with the rest of the historv of J and E, as is 
proved from the earlier and later prophets. All fluent traditions in conflict with this, had they existed, 
would long since have been forgotten. How then could the writer of P at his late date have ventured to 
give, at the very opening of his history, an account of creation in conflict with that accepted so long and 
probably then regarded as sacred as we find it to be thought in after centuries? Above all, how could 
he have thought a history of this kind would incline the people to accept the new legislation with which 
it was associated On the assumption of the radical criticism of different documents, the author or 
authors of P cannot be relieved of the charge of stupidity. If they thought the people would not notice 
the discrepancies which the radical critics say are so glaring, or if they thought the people would be all 
the more favorable to legislation introduced by an account of creation in glaring contradiction to that 
accepted as true, in either case the folly was egregious. 

A redactor is also said to have merged this new document with the three. J, E. D. which had alreadv 
been united. This redactor is credited with great skill in harmonizing conflicts. How was it, were the 
conflict at the very beginning of the documents he had to unite into one so great as is claimed, that he 
did not see it and do his best work here, instead of leaving all the alleged contradictions side by side. On 
tne.,e general grounds alone, are we not compelled to accept the view that Gen. 2 : 4b seq., instead of being 
an independent account of creation, is supplemental to Gen. 1:1 to 2 : 4a, if it is possible without great 
violence to the language, to explain it in this way ? In what follows it is hoped it will appear that, apart 
rrom these objections, this interpretation is preferable.] 



56 



GENESIS 



[Ch. II. 



that the Lord God made the earth and the 
heavens, 

5 And every plant of the field before it was in 
the earth, and every herb of the field before it 
grew : for the Lord God had not caused it to rain 
upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the 
ground. 



that the Lord God made earth and heaven. 
5 And no plant of the field was yet in the earth, 
and no herb of the field had yet sprung up : for 
the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the 
earth, and there was not a man to till the 



2 : 4a, which they ascribe to the Elohist, be 
joined immediately to 5 : 1, the incongruous re- 
sult will follow of two titles standing directly 
together. 5. "As the titles now stand they 
succeed each other in a perfectly natural order. 
(1) The creation of heaven and earth in the 
beginning; (2) the generations of heaven and 
earth, Adam and his family, the child of both 
worlds; (3) the generations of Adam traced to 
Noah and his family; (4) the generations of 
Noah and so on." 

The Lord God. The Hebrew is D'JtVx 
nitT {Jehovah Elohim). In our English ver- 
sion Jehovah is translated LORD (in capital 
letters). The word Lord represents another 
Hebrew word, , J i "W, Adhonai. The name Je- 
hovah, occurring about six thousand times in 
Scripture, is first used in this verse. The com- 
bined name Lord God is employed in this sec- 
tion to the close of chap. 3, with the exception 
of ver. 1, 3, 5, in which Elohim (God) is used 
three times — twice by the serpent and once by 
the woman. Outside the book of Genesis the 
name Lord God is found only once in the Pen- 
tateuch (Exod. 9 : 30), and elsewhere in the entire 
Old Testament only ten times (i cimm. n : 16, n . 

2 Chron. 6 : 41 42 ; 2 Sam: 7 : 22, 25 ; Ps. 84 : 8, 11 ; Jonah 
4:6). 

We cannot be certain of the true pronuncia- 
tion of the word Jehovah, or rather of the word 
which it is employed to translate. The later 
Hebrews (beginning probably with Galatinus in 
1520), from a misconception of the meaning of 
Exod. 20 : 7 and Lev. 24 : 11, or from super- 
stitious notions, considered the word too sacred 
to pronounce, and so read in place of it Adonai. 
When they had to pronounce the word, they 
used hashohem — the name. The pronunciation 
adopted by the majority of modern scholars is 
probably the correct one — yahweh. Accordingly, 
as yahweh is taken for a Kal or a Hiphil form, 
will the meaning of Jehovah be, "he that is," or, 
" he that causes to be." The former, viewed in 
the light of Exod. 3 : 14 — the locus classicus for 



its signification — is to be preferred. In this 
passage God defines himself as the " I am that 
I am," 1 then calls himself nTlN, 'ehyeh, com- 
mands Moses to tell the children of Israel that 
Ehyeh — I am — had sent him, and finally Jeho- 
vah. When we read (Exod. 6 : 3) ; " I appeared 
unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, as 
God Almighty, but by my name Jehovah I was 
not made known to them," we are not to under- 
stand that the patriarchs were ignorant of that 
name, but only that until now God had not been 
made known to them in the character of Jeho- 
vah as the covenant God of his people. 

Jehovah, then, is the self-existent One, who 
has specially manifested himself to man and 
entered into distinct covenant relations with 
him. Elohim is the generic name of God which 
the sacred writer gives him in the first chapter 
of Genesis, which records his creative acts. 
But when he passes to the personal history of 
man and his immediate relation to his Maker, 
he employs the more personal name of God — 
the name by which he afterward became known 
to the patriarchs as their God. It was singularly 
appropriate that the two names Jehovah Elohim 
should be joined in chap. 2 and 3, as indicating 
that Jehovah, the God of grace who visited man 
in paradise and gave him a promise of victory 
over the tempter, was Elohim, the same God 
who created the heavens and the earth. Comp. 
Ps. 19 where God in relation to his works in 
creation is called Elohim, but in relation to 
man as his lawgiver and sanctifier, Jehovah. 
The combined name speaks not of a difference 
of authorship for these chapters, but of progres- 
sive development in divine revelation. 

Earth and heaven. In the first part of the 
verse it is "the heavens and the earth," which 
signifies the universe, as in 1 : 1 ; in the last 
part the " earth " stands first, because it is the 
dwelling-place of man and the scene of the 
history which is now to center in him. 

5. The Authorized version, by connecting this 
verse closely with ver. 4, is misleading. As cor- 



1 Keil thinks that absolute self-existence is the essential idea represented by the name. Delitzsch, 
laying stress on its future form, regards it as signifying the Becoming One, with reference to revelation. 
Robertson Smith renders, "I will be what I will be," i. e., your God and helper. Macdonald, from the 
circumstance that it was not used till after the fall, discerns a pointing toward Jehovah as the coming 
one in connection with redemption. The most probable view is that the passage means "lam that I 
am " in a pregnant sense, as giving evidence of being, ever manifesting himself under fresh aspects, 
entering into personal relations with his people, and verifying his promises to them. 



Ch. II.] 



GENESIS 



57 



6 But there went up a mist from the earth, and 
watered the whole face of the ground. 

7 And the Lord God formed man of the dust of 
the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the 
breath of life ; and man became a living soul. 



6 ground ; but there went up a mist from the 
earth, and watered the whole face of the ground. 

7 And the Lord God formed man of the dust of 
the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the 
breath of life ; and man became a living soul. 



rectly rendered by the E. V. — no plant of the 
field was yet in the earth, and no herb of the 
field had yet sprung up — it states that in its 
original condition the earth yielded nothing for 
the sustenance of man. A twofold reason for 
the absence of food-producing vegetables is 
given : the Lord God had not caused it to rain 
upon the earth — the present atmospheric con- 
ditions had not been established ; and there was 
not a man to till the ground. 

It is objected by some critics that this view 
is opposed to 1 : 11 where we read, "And God 
said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb 
yielding seed, and the fruit-tree yielding fruit," 
and they infer, consequently, that chap. 1 and 
2 constituted two independent and contradic- 
tory traditions which the redactor clumsily 
compiled. But there is no contradiction. In 
1 : 11 the reference is to the creation, or first 
production of the whole vegetable kingdom; 
here it is to the nurture of the plants and herbs 
fitted to sustain man. The latter was depend- 
ent on rain and human culture ; the former — 
their creation — was not. Hence also the words 
rendered "plant," rpj#, siah; "field," nn^, 
sadeh ; and " spring up," np]T, yitsmah, which 
do not occur in chap. 1, but are employed as sug- 
gesting the produce of labor and cultivation. 
There is here no reference to "grass" as in 
1 : 12, because this was not food for man. 
The historian must be understood as referring 
to a time subsequent to the third creative day, 
but prior to the creation of man, when there 
was no cultivated land and no vegetation fit for 
the use of man. 1 

6. But there went up a mist, better, 
And a mist was going up continually. The im- 
perfect (yaaleh) is here used in a frequentative 



sense, and expresses habitual action, w T hile the 
perfect to which it is joined expresses a single 
completed act, as in 6:4; 29 : 2, 3 ; 1 Kings 
14 : 28. This watering was to prepare the 
garden for the growth of its trees, ver. 8, 9, 
and may have had no reference to the earth 
as a whole. 

7. And the Lubd God formed man. 
The word "man" takes the article by way of 
eminence. The combination of D^N, 'adharn, 
"man," with HDIS*, 'adhamah, "ground," 
points to the origin and to the destiny of the 
earthly part of man's nature. Of the dust, 
(lit., man dust — dust being a second accusative 
specifying the material used) of the ground. Of 
course the formation of Adam's body was as 
truly an act of the divine will — an act of om- 
nipotence, instantaneously performed, as that 
of any previous creative act. Since, however, 
his body was designed to be the noblest of God's 
works, "fearfully and wonderfully made " (Ps. 
i39:u) t the shrine of an immortal spirit, and 
a "prophecy and type of the body of his Son," 
it was fitting that its construction should be 
represented as receiving God's special attention. 

And breathed into his nostrils the 
breath of life, lit., of lives. The genital 
combination D"n npt^J, nishmath chayyim, 
"breath of life," is to be distinguished both 
from ITn ^3J, nephesh chayyah, "living be- 
ing or living soul," and rP s n P^H, ruach 
chayyah, "spirit of life," found only in Ezek. 
1 : 20 and 10 : 17, for neither of which is it 
ever used; also from D^n PHI, ruach chay- 
yim, "spirit or breath of life." The designa- 
tions !r s n #3J, nephesh chayyah, and D^H 
r^P, ruach chayyim, are applied to men and 
the lower animals alike (i : 22, 24; 6 : 17 ; 1 ■. 15). 



1 [Does a comparison of the narrative in chap. 2 : 4b, seq., with that in 1 : 1 to 2 : 4a compel us to believe 
them independent and discrepant accounts of creation ? The answer to this question depends chiefly 
upon whether the author of 2 : 4b, seq., evidently intended to give the events he mentions in their order 
of time, or only in the order of thought as they are related to man as the central object of attention. The 
former idea seems to be negatived by the consideration that man would then be thought to have been 
created before any sustenance had been provided, and a garden had to be planted (ver. 8), and the trees 
had to have time to grow and bear fruit (ver. 9) before he had any food. The latter view is favored by 
the fact that all of creation that is mentioned is in its relation to man, and what did not have direct 
reference to him in his original condition is left out— grass, marine animals, and creeping things. 

Neither does the grammatical construction (ver. 19), "And out of the ground the Lord God formed 
every beast of the field," etc, " and brought them unto the man," etc., compel us to believe that the order 
of mention is the order of time, as Doctor Green ( Unity of Genesis, pp. 25, 26) has shown, and instances 
Exod. 4 : 31 ; Josh. 2 : 22 ; Isa. 37 : 2-5, etc., where making the order of mention that of time would make 
nonsense. The sentence is equivalent to "The Lord God having formed," etc., "brought them," etc. 
Emphasis is not laid upon their creation, but upon their being brought to Adam after they were created.] 



58 



GENESIS 



[Ch. II. 



But it must not be overlooked that man and 
the lower animals did not become " living 
souls " in the same way. It was only man who 
became a living soul by a distinct act of divine 
inbreathing. As H^H, ruach, and $33, nephesh, 
as well as np#J, nishmath, are sometimes ren- 
dered breath in the Authorized Version, it is im- 
possible from that version to tell which is em- 
ployed in any given passage. But while, as 
already observed, the first two words are ap- 
plied to man and irrational animals alike, the 
last is invariably applied to God or man («en. 

7 : 22 ; 1 2 Sam. 22 : 16 ; -lob 4:9; 2fi : 4 ; 27 : 3 ; 32 : 8 ; 34 : 
14; 37 : 10 ; P8. 18 : 15 ; 1'rov. 20 : 27 ; Isa. 57 : 1G ; Dan. 5 : 
23 ; 10 : 17). 

This direct inspiration became the foundation 
of man's likeness to God and of his immortality. 
It gave him his preeminence over the animal 
world. 2 He alone of God's creatures on earth 
can be designated a person ; he alone can come 
into personal relations with God. Related to 



the earth in the materials of his body, and to 
the lower animals in his organs and appetites, 
he is yet the offspring of God (Acts n : 28), a son 

Of God (Luke 3 : 38). 

For the purpose of proving the authorship of 
this chapter to be different from that of chap. 
1, some of the critics allege that the account of 
man's creation in this does not agree with the 
account in that; that while in chap. 1 man is 
represented as being created by the divine word, 
and simultaneously with the woman, here he 
is elaborated from the dust, then animated by the 
divine breath, and woman afterward formed 
from him. But there is no discrepancy. The 
first account is the more general and summary ; 
the second the more particular and circumstan- 
tial. The first account does not say that man 
and woman were created together, nor does it 
give details of the formation of either. As al- 
ready shown in chap. 1, man is represented in 
his relation to creation as a whole ; in this 



1 Keil and (Ehler incline to make Gen. 7 : 22 an exception to this statement, but hardly, I think, on 
sufficient grounds. The expression, "in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life," is evidently 
explanatory of "every man," at the end of ver. 21, for the destruction of the animals has already been 
described in the former part of this verse. It will be observed too, that in the original the phrase, 
" and every man," at the end of ver. 21, is separated from what precedes by one of the two greatest dis- 
junctive accents in the language, which shows that the phrase was regarded as forming an independent 
sentence. 

2 On the question of man's immediate creation and primitive state, the Bishop of Ely remarks : " First. 
It is admitted even by the theorists themselves that in the present state of the evidence the records be- 
neath the earth's surface give no support to the hypothesis that every species grew out of some species less 
perfect before it. There is not an unbroken chain of continuity. At times new and strange forms sud- 
denly appear upon the stage of life, with no previous intimation of their coming. Secondly. In those 
creatures in which instinct seems most fully developed, it is impossible that it should have grown by cul- 
tivation and successive inheritance. In no animal is it more observable than in the bee : but the working 
bee only has the remarkable instinct of building and honey-making so peculiar to its race; it does not 
inherit that instinct from its parents, for neither the drone nor the queen bee builds or works ; it does not 
hand it down to its posterity, for itself is sterile and childless. Mr. Darwin has not succeeded in replying 
to this argument. Thirdly. Civilization, as far as all experience goes, has always been learned from 
without. No extremely barbarous nation has ever yet been found capable of initiating civilization. 
Retrogression is rapid, but progress unknown, till the first steps have been taught. Moreover, almost all 
barbarous races, if not wholly without tradition, believe themselves to have been once in a more civil- 
ized state, to have come from a more favored land, to have descended from ancestors more enlightened 
and more powerful than themselves. Fourthly. Though it has been asserted without any proof that 
man, when greatly degenerate, reverts to the type of the monkey, just as domesticated animals revert 
to the wild type ; yet the analogy is imperfect and untrue. Man, undoubtedly, apart from ennobling 
influences, degenerates, and, losing more and more of the image of his Maker, becomes more clearly as- 
similated to the brute creation, the earthly nature overpowering the spiritual. But that this is not 
natural to him is shown by the fact that under such conditions of degeneracy the race gradually becomes 
enfeebled, and at length dies out ; whereas the domesticated animal, which reverts to the type of the wild 
animal, instead of fading away, becomes only the more powerful and the more prolific. The wild state is 
natural to the brutes, but the civilized is natural to man. 

Even if the other parts of the Darwinian hypothesis were demonstrable, there is not a vestige of 
evidence that there ever existed any being intermediate between apes and men. It also deserves 
to be borne in mind, that even if it could be made probable that man is only an improved ape, no 
physiological reason can touch the question, whether God did not when the improvement reached 
its right point, breathe into him "a living soul," a spirit "which goeth upward," when bodily 
life ceases. 

[It may be added that many of the most eminent scientists of to-day are abandoning the Darwinian 
theory of evolution so far as it is evolution by natural selection, and the tendency is distinctly away from 
it. See Otto, Naturalism and Religion.] 



Ch. II.] 



GENESIS 



59 



8 And the Lord God planted a garden eastward 
in Eden ; and there he put the man whom he had 
formed. 



8 And the Lord God planted a garden eastward, 
in Eden ; and there he put the man whom he 



chapter he is the subject of the first page of 
human history. 

8. The writer, in anticipation of man's ar- 
rival, now proceeds to describe the place pre- 
pared for his reception. And the Lord God 
planted, that is, specially prepared a gar- 
den, J J , gan, a protected place, from j J J, ganan, 
" to cover." The Septuagint and Vulgate render 
a paradise, which is a Persian word, introduced 
into the later Hebrew in the form of DTlfi, par- 

dheS (Heh, 2:8; Keel. 2:5; Cant, 4 : 13), and denotes & 

pleasure ground or park, watered with running 
streams, and abounding with the choicest fruits 
and flowers, such as generally surrounded the 
palaces of Eastern monarchs. In course of time 
it came to be applied to any peculiarly fertile or 
delightful region, and to be used metaphorically 
for heaven (2 cor. is : 4 ; Luke 23 : 43). Eastward, 
that^is, of Palestine or of the wilderness where 
this history was written, though, as some think, 
it may mean the eastern part of Eden. 

In Eden, so called from its signification — 
pleasantness. The Vulgate erroneously renders 
garden in Eden by paradise of pleasure. The 
word, however, is a proper name, and points to 
a particular region referred to in Isa. 51 : 3 ; 
Ezek. 28 : 13 ; 31 : 9, 16, 18 ; 36 : 35 ; Joel 2 : 3. 
This Eden must not be confounded with the 
Eden named in 2 Kings 19 : 12 ; Isa. 37 : 12 ; 
Ezek. 27 : 23, which is another word in the 
original, and designates a district in Mesopo- 
tamia or Assyria ; nor with the Eden of Amos 
1 : 5, which was probably a royal residence in 
the neighborhood of Damascus. 

As to the locality of Eden, learned opinion is 
principally divided between two places, namely, 
the highlands of Armenia and Babylonia. 
Those favoring the former identify the Pishon 
and Gihon respectively with the Phasis and 
Araxes, whose sources with those of the Tigris 
and Euphrates are near each other in the moun- 
tains of Armenia. To this view, however, it is 
objected: (1) The garden was eastward from 
the place where Moses was when he wrote. If 
he composed the Pentateuch during the sojourn 
of the Israelites in the wilderness, the moun- 
tains of Armenia would have been, not eastward 
from him, but far to the north. (2) The proof 
is very strong, amounting in the opinion of 



some to a certainty, that Cush and Havilah 
must be sought for in the vicinity of the Persian 
Gulf, where the descendants of Havilah, one 
of the sons of Joktan, settled (10 : 29; comp. 
25 : is; i Sam. is : 7). (3) The description given 
of Eden (2 : 9) forbids our identifying it with 
the bleak and barren mountains of Armenia ; 
although — and this affects the whole question, 
rendering a satisfactory solution impossible — 
"great land changes may have taken place 
since this geographical description applied to 
the country." On this account argument and 
authority seem now to preponderate in favor of 
the latter place — the region on the Euphrates 
between its junction with the Tigris and the 
separation again of their waters to flow into the 
Persian Gulf. The Euphrates, after receiving 
the Tigris, flows on in one channel over a hun- 
dred miles, and then divides into two streams 
forming a delta, the western of which is the 
Pishon, compassing the ancient Havilah, and 
the eastern the Gihon, compassing the ancient 
Cush. "And from thence," that is, from the 
land of Eden, "it was parted into four heads" 
or streams, two coming down from above, and 
dividing again into two below. That the Cush- 
ites originally dwelt on this mouth-branch of 
the Euphrates is evident from their having left 
their name there. In 2 Kings 17 : 24 the same 
region is called "Cuthah," which is only the 
Aramaic form of the Hebrew name Cush. 

And there he put the man whom he 
had formed. These words seem to say that 
the creation of man Avas prior to that of the 
plants and trees of Eden. It must, however, be 
borne in mind that the writer is here narrating 
events, not in their strict chronological order, 
but in the order of association in thought. 1 The 
former is given in chap. 1, which speaks of the 
original production of grass, herbs, and trees, 
to which this chapter makes no allusion. This 
chapter says nothing of the origin of the vege- 
table world, but simply of the planting of the 
garden in Eden. To this subject the writer 
naturally paves his way. A garden supposes a 
man to till it. Man is its necessary concom- 
itant, not its necessary antecedent. The order 
of thought then is : the formation of man (ver. 7) ; 
the planting of the garden (ver. 8) ; the making 



1 For illustrations of this grammatical principle, see Driver's Hebrew Tenses, § g 75, 76 ; Professor Harper"? 
Hebrew Syntax, g 24, 2. In the last edition of his Commentary on Genesis, which embodies his most matured 
views, Delitzsch sanctions this principle and admits that the planting of the garden in ver. 8 must be 
regarded as antedating the forming of the man in ver. 7. 



60 



GENESIS 



[Ch. II. 



9 And out of the ground made the Lord God to 
grow every tree that is pleasaut to the sight, and 
good for food ; the tree of life also in the midst of 
the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and 
evil. 

10 And a river went out of Eden to water the 
garden ; and from thence it was parted, and be- 
came into four heads. 

11 The name of the first is Pison : that is it which 
compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where 
there is gold ; 



9 had formed. And out of the ground made the 
Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to 
the sight, and good for food ; the tree of life also 
in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the 

10 knowledge of good and evil. And a river went 
out of Eden to water the garden ; and from 
thence it was parted, and became four heads. 

11 The name of the first is Pishon : that is it which 
compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where 



of trees to grow therein (ver. 9); the putting of 
man in the garden (ver. 15). 

9. Pleasant to the sight and good for 
food; a description of ornamentation and 
utility combined. The garden contained every- 
thing to regale man's senses and minister to his 
bodily necessities. Among its many produc- 
tions, and centrally situated, were two wonder- 
ful trees. The tree of life (lit,, of lives) also 
in the midst of the garden, and the tree 
of the knowledge of good and evil. The 
tree of life, not a living tree, that is, a tree of the 
evergreen species, possessing undecaying vital- 
ity. This tree was not only living but life- 
giving as well. It was life-giving in the two- 
fold sense of being the visible medium through 
which a life-imparting power was communi- 
cated (3 : 24) y and a token to man that this life 
would be continued to him so long as he re- 
mained obedient. Adam possessed a capacity 
for bodily immortality. By eating from this 
tree the possibility of not dying was turned into 
an actuality, not through the physical act of 
eating, but by his abiding in fellowship with 
God. There was nothing in the tree itself or in 
its fruit to confer or conserve physical immor- 
tality; it was a symbol and pledge that this 
immortality would be enjoyed by him so long as 
he maintained his personal integrity. 

" The tree of the knowledge of good and evil " 
was so called, not as possessing any efficacy in 
itself to impart this knowledge (such could not 
have been the divine intention, for its fruit was 
forbidden), but as furnishing a test, through the 
prohibition concerning it, whether our first par- 
ents would follow good or evil, whether they 
would acquire the knowledge of good by obe- 
dience, or of evil by disobedience. The expres- 
sion, "Tree of knowledge of good and evil" 
implies two things : first, that good and evil 
already existed; and second, that in some way 
man was destined to attain to this knowledge. 
When man came from the hand of his Maker he 
was an innocent and sinless being, but not, in 
the highest sense, a holy being. There was in 
him the germ of holiness, which he was to 
develop by his own free choice, as a free moral 
agent, in doing God's- will. The command laid 



upon him furnished the opportunity of this 
spiritual development, and it was given him for 
this purpose. It would bring into conscious- 
ness the hitherto latent sensibility to moral 
obligation which was laid in his original con- 
stitution, with the kindred notions of the 
authority of the Creator and the subordination 
of himself the creature. Without this there 
could be no moral culture or growth in holiness. 
The test was of the simplest kind, neither 
imposing labor nor denying pleasure. The 
thing forbidden was wrong simply because it 
was forbidden, and not as being evil in itself. 
It was suited thus to show whether Adam would 
obey for the sake of obeying. Fad he decided 
by an exercise of his free choice to obey the 
divine command and remain loyal to God, he 
would hereby have developed from the tempta- 
ble state of innocence to the untemptable state 
of holiness and free obedience — into the condi- 
tion in which the possibility of sinning would 
be as far removed from him as from the angels 
who kept their first estate. [Man as created 
was not devoid of all knowledge of good and 
evil. Had he been he could not have felt under 
obligation to obey God and been responsible so 
as to deserve punishment for disobedience. 
Through obedience to the command associated 
with the tree of knowledge of good and evil, he 
would come to know the higher good when in- 
nocence became strengthened into virtue. Did 
he disobey this command, he would know the 
awful moral evil of sin, with all the other forms 
of evil associated with it. Neither let any one 
be too sure that this account of these trees 
stamps the narrative as mythical and childish. 
In the childhood of the race, man might well be 
taught as children are still — through object-les- 
sons by which the abstract was made known to 
them through concrete objects.] 

11. The name of the first is Pishon. 
As already stated, this river has been variously 
identified. That is it which compasseth 
(not necessarily surrounding, but circuitously 
skirting [Num. 21 : 4; judg. a : 8] ) the whole 
land of Havilah. Those who locate Eden 
in Armenia think the former of the two per- 
sons named Havilah (10 : 7) to be the one here 



Ch. II. ] 



GENESIS 



61 



12 And the gold of that land is good : there is 
bdellium and the onyx stone. 

13 And the name of the second river is Gihon : 
the same is it that compasseth the whole land of 
Ethiopia. 

14 And the name of the third river is Hiddekel : 
that is it which goeth toward the east of Assyria. 
And the fourth river is Euphrates. 

15 And tiie Lord God took the man, and put him 
into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. 



12 there is gold ; and the gold of that land is good : 

13 there is bdellium and the onyx stone. And the 
name of the second river is Gihon : the same is 
it that compasseth the whole land of Gush. 

14 And the name of the third river is Hiddekel : 
that is it which goeth in front of Assyria. And 

15 the fourth river is Euphrates. And the Lord 
God took the man, and put him into the garden 



referred to. But the fact that it was a gold- 
producing land argues in favor of the latter. 
Accordingly this Havilah must be located in the 
northeastern part of Arabia, near the Persian 
Gulf, opposite to Shur on the northwestern 
part which bordered on the Red Sea (25 : is). 

12. And the gold of that land is good ; 
that is, pure in quality, if not abundant in 
quantity. The language is that of one familiar 
with the products of the country at the time of 
his writing. The article, prefixed to the word 
gold, indicates that the object was well known. 
Many writers testify to the purity of the gold 
of Arabia. Diodorus (uu. 11., p. 93) states that 
natural gold was found there, and of such bright 
color that it resembled the brightness of fire, 
and so pure that it required no refining. Bdel- 
lium, lit., bedolach. The word occurs again 
only in Num. 11 : 7, where the manna is said to 
resemble the bdellium in color (comp. Exoa. 16 : 14). 
The majority of modern interpreters think, 
with Josephus, that it was an odorous and costly 
gum, indigenous to India, Arabia, Media, and 
Babylonia, and much prized for burning as in- 
cense. The third production is the onyx, OT}W, 
shoham, so called from its resemblance to the 
human nails. It is variously conjectured to be 
the beryl, onyx, sardonyx, sardius, or emerald. 
It was one of the stones in the high priest's 
ephod and breastplate (Exoa. 28 •. 9-12, 20). In Job 
28 : 16 it is described as "the precious onyx." 
The word occurs in ten other. places, chiefly in 
the book of Exodus, in all which it is rendered 
in the Authorized version by onyx. 

13. The name of the second river is 
Gihon, or, the bursting, from ITJ, giach, to 
burst forth. The same is it which com- 
passeth the whole land of Cush. No 
satisfactory information concerning the course 
of this river is at hand. Some think, with 
Conant, that it may have been the ancient Cyrus 
(the Cur), or the Zabana, one of the largest 
confluents of the Tigris, rising near the sources 
of that river, and traversing the plains through 
which its head waters flowed. This is on the 
supposition that the name of Cush was given to 
a portion of this country. But the descendants 
of Cush (10 : 8-12 ) t though a branch of them may 



have taken early possession of these plains, were 
not restricted to them ; they spread themselves 
over the more southern region, and at a later 
period they are found in the southeastern part 
of Arabia, and later still in Africa, in the 
country now called Ethiopia. 

14. The name of the third river is 
Hiddekel, that is, the darting, from its rapid- 
ity. The Tigris is here doubtless the river 
referred to. It is mentioned only twice in 
Scripture, here and in Dan. 10 : 4, where it is 
the great river, by the side of which was Dan- 
iel when he saw the visions recorded in his 
prophecy. It rises in the mountains of Arme- 
nia, about fifteen miles south of the sources of the 
Euphrates. That is it which goeth in 
front of Assyria, that is, from the stand- 
point of the writer. Others render "east of 
Assyria," thus including Mesopotamia in the 
term. Conant thinks the writer speaks of As- 
syria as it was in the earliest part of its history, 
when it was occupied by emigration from the 
west (10 : ii), and when the seat of government 
was west of the Tigris. "Here in 2 : 14," 
says Gesenius, "the provinces situated beyond 
the Tigris appear to be disregarded, and the 
Tigris is said to flow to the east of Assyria." 

The fourth river (Euphrates), being thor- 
oughly known to the Hebrews, is not locally 
described. It is often mentioned as "the great 
river" (15: 18; Deut. i:7) and "the river" par 
excellence (Exoa. 23 : si ; isa. 7 : 20). 

15. Having prepared the garden for man's 
reception, the Lord God took the man and 
put him in it, that is, induced him by secret 
impulse or open command to enter it. The 
meaning of the language seems to be that man 
was not created in the garden, but was brought 
there after his creation. To dress it ; that is, 
to cultivate aud work it. The divine planting 
did not supersede the necessity of the human 
tilling. Without the latter, its plants, flowers, 
and trees would have degenerated. Labor was 
imposed on man, even before he fell, showing 
that there is no incompatibility between inno- 
cence and work. The palm hardened with 
honest toil is a mark, not of degradation, but 
of honorable distinction. And to keep it — 



62 



GENESIS 



[Ch. II. 



16 And the Lord God commanded the man, say- 
ing, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely 
eat: 

17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and 
evil, thou shalt not eat of it : for in the day that 
thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. 

18 And the Lord God said, It is not good that the 
man should be alone ; I will make him an help 
meet for him. 

19 And out of the ground the Lord God formed 



46 of Eden to dress it and to keep it. And the 
Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of 
every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: 

17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and 
evil, thou shalt not eat of it : for in the day that 
thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. 

18 And the Lord God said, It is not good that the 
man should be alone ; I will make him an help 

19 meet for him. And out of the ground the Lord 



from whatever invasion or depredation it may 
have been exposed to. 

16, 17. These verses contain the command 
of the Lord God to man concerning the trees 
of the garden — a command both permissive and 
prohibitive. Thou mayest freely eat. 
This permission embraced the " tree of life," of 
which probably our first parents ate before the 
fall, but which possessed no power in itself to 
make them, either in their fallen or unfallen 
state, immortal. This power lay entirely in the 
word of God, or in a special operation of the 
Spirit of God. Man's continuous eating of the 
"tree of life " was conditioned on his refraining 
from eating of the "tree of knowledge." The 
obedience involved in the divine command 
touching this tree would have secured perpetual 
access to the " tree of life " and the blessings of 
which the eating of it was a symbol. As "by 
one man sin entered into the world, and death 
by sin," if man had not sinned, it is not likely 
that he would ever have been called to suffer 
the pains of bodily death. [A change like that 
in the saints who are alive when Christ comes 
would have taken place, or they might have 
been translated as were Enoch and Elijah.] As 
"the sting of death is sin," in a sinless world, 
even the dissolution of the connection between 
soul and body would be without the pain and 
sting of death as it now exists. 

But of the tree of the knowledge of 
good and evil, then shalt not eat of it. 
Speculations as to the kind of tree here referred 
to are unprofitable. The essence of the trans- 
action lay, not in the fruit, nor in the physical 
act of eating, but in the divine command and 
in the act which constituted its violation. It 
was the eating of forbidden fruit that made 
the act of eating a sin. Probation involved a 
test of some kind, and true moral development 
was impossible without it. It was no sin to 
eat, if he ate by compulsion, and against his 
free will and choice. " The prohibition laid on 
Adam was for the time being a summary of the 
divine law." This tree " was a concrete repre- 
sentation of that fundamental distinction be- 
tween right and wrong, duty and sin, which lies 
at the basis of all responsibility. It interpreted 



for the first pair those great moral intuitions 
which had been implanted in their natures, and 
by which it was intended they should regulate 
their lives." 

For in the day that thou eatest thereof 
thou shalt surely die. This penalty in- 
cluded the loss Of Spiritual life (Rom. 8:6; Eph. 

2:i; coi. 2 : 13), and the subjection of the body 
to disease and death (3 : is). The first part of 
the penalty was inflicted at once; the second 
part was involved in the first, and though de- 
layed for a time, was none the less real and cer- 
tain. [Primarily the threatening referred to 
spiritual death— separation from God and its 

Consequent misery (John 3 : 36 ; 6 : 47, 48 ; Rom. 6 : 23 ; 

8 : 6-n) — and was fulfilled on the day our first 
parents disobeyed (3 : 8-io). Bodily death was- 
the consequence of this more terrible death. 
From both forms of death the work of our 
Lord is to deliver his people. In his dying and 
rising he has conquered death, and brought to 
light the immortality of both soul and body 

(Rom. 8 : 11 ; Phil. 3 : 21).] 

18. In this chapter the writer gives a more 
circumstantial account of the origin of the first 
human pair than is contained in chap. 1. In 
1 : 27 he simply states that God created man, 
male and female ; in this chapter he gives details 
of their separate formation and expounds the 
nature of the marriage relation. I will make 
him an help meet for him ; lit., a helper 
as over against him, that is, corresponding to 
him, a counterpart of himself. Humanity is 
not fully represented in either man or woman 
alone. They are mutually complementary. 
They must stand together fully to represent 
the race. This altera ego who was soon to 
stand at Adam's side would be exactly adapted 
to his moral and spiritual nature, would com- 
pletely meet his physical, intellectual, and 
social needs. 

19. And out of the ground the Lord 
God formed, etc. These words seem to state 
that the beasts and birds were created after the 
man ; and in order to reconcile the statement 
Avith the account given in the first chapter, 
some give the verb a pluperfect sense and 
translate " had formed." It should not, how- 



Oh. II.] 



GENESIS 



every beast of the Held, and every fowl of the air; 
and brought them unto Adam to see what he would 
call them: and whatsoever Adam called every 
living creature, that was the name thereof. 

20 And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to 
the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field ; 
but for Adam there was not found an help meet for 
him. 

21 And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall 
upon Adam, and he slept : and he took one of his 
ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof ; 

22 And the rib, which the Lord God had taken 
from man, made he a woman, and brought her 
unto the man. 



God formed every beast of the field, and every 
fowl of the air ; and brought them unto the man 
to see what he would call them : and whatsoever 
the man called every living creature, that was 

20 the name thereof. And the man gave names to 
all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every 
beast of the field ; but for man there was not 

21 found an help meet for him. And the Lord 
God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, 
and he slept ; and he took one of his ribs, and 

22 closed up the flesh instead thereof: and the rib, 
which the Lord God had taken from the man, 
made he a woman, and brought her unto the 



ever.be so rendeved. 1 "This rendering does, 
indeed, correctly represent the facts, but not the 
sacred writer's statement of them" (Conant). 
He is here following the order of thought and 
not that of the creative days, and inserts the 
statement which the connection required in 
order to show that the creation of another being 
was required as a suitable companion for man. 
This was in harmony with Hebrew usage, (see 

note, ver. 5.) 

And every fowl of the air. This seems 
to<!onflict with 1 : 20, which represents (A. V.) 
the waters as bringing forth fowl ; but the ap- 
parent contradiction vanishes with the proper 
rendering: "And let the fowl fly above the 
earth." 

And brought, lit., caused to come. We are 
not to suppose that he brought all the animals 
to the man ; he rather brought of them — speci- 
mens of them. 

To see what he would call them ; to 
see, that is, from observing their structure and 
habits, what names would be suitable to them. 
God created man capable not only of thinking, 
but also of expressing his thoughts by words, 
though language was doubtless with him as 
with us a matter of gradual development. He 
was at once a man and a child — a child in in- 
formation, but a man in capacity. His lan- 
guage was limited and simple, but adequate to 
his circumstances. 

That was the name thereof— the name 
that approved itself to God and remained the 
permanent designation of the animal. In this 
act of naming, man's supremacy as the natural 
lord of the world was evinced (i : 26, 28). 

20. But for Adam, the man, there was 
not found an help meet for him. The 



coming of the animals before him, and probably 
in pairs, revealed the fact that none was suited 
to be a companion for him. None of them, con- 
sequently, received a name expressive of this 
idea. It was only when the creature that was 
formed expressly for him was brought, and he 
called her " woman," that such name was given. 

21. A deep sleep. The Hebrew word for 
ordinary sleep is shenah ; the word here em- 
ployed is tardemah, which denotes an extraor- 
dinary or supernatural sleep. It is the word 

j used for the " deep sleep," the " horror of great 
darkness," which fell upon Abram, when the 
Lord revealed to him the future of his descend- 
ants (15 : 12); the "deep sleep" of Eliphaz 
when, in " the visions of the night," a spirit 
passed before his face and the hair of his flesh 

StOOd Up (Job 4 : 13 ; corap. S3 : 15). Liglltfoot SUp- 

poses that the nature of the sleep was such that 
the whole scene of Eve's creation was presented 
to Adam's imagination since, according to ver. 
23, Adam was fully aware of the manner in 
which Eve was formed, for he says, "this is 
now bone of my bones," etc. 

22. And the rib . . . made he a woman, 
lit., built up into a woman. The [account, it 
may be allegorical, of the] formation of the 
woman from the rib (or side) of the man teaches 
very forcibly and beautifully the close relation- 
ship between the sexes, and the duty of the one 
toward the other. The foundation of mutual 
love and sympathy between husband and wife 
is laid in the fact that the substance of which 
Eve was formed was not distinct from Adam, 
but a part of himself. It has, accordingly, been 
quaintly remarked [Knapp's Commentary] that 
she was " not made out of his head to rule over 
him ; nor out of his feet to be trampled on by 



i Still, as Doctor Green shows {Ilebraica, Vol. V., p. 148), "it is a familiar fact that Hebrew construc- 
tion frequently co-ordinates what in Occidental languages would preferably, or even necessarily, be sub- 
ordinated. Thus Gen. 44 : 22, 'the lad cannot leave his father and he will leave his father and die.' 
meaning ' if he leave his father, the latter will die.' When the stress lies upon the second of two verbs 
connected by waw consecutive future, the sequence in time may be altogether in the second or principal 
verb, and not in that which is in thought subordinate to it. Thus, ver. 7. 8, ' he formed man . . . and 
planted a garden . . . and placed man there ' is equivalent to ' placed man in the garden which he had 
planted.' So 2 : 19 may be equivalent to ' the Lord brought the beasts which he had formed.' " 



64 



GENESIS 



[Ch. II. 



23 And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, 
and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, 
because she was taken out of Man. 

24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his 
mother, and shall cleave unto his wife : and they 
shall be one flesh. 

25 And they were both naked, the man and his 
wife, and were not ashamed. 



23 man. And the man said, This is now bone of my 
bones, and flesh of my flesh : she shall be called 
Woman, because she was taken out of Man. 

24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his 
mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and 

25 they shall be one flesh. And they were both 
naked, the man and his wife, and were not 
ashamed. 



him ; but out of his side, to be equal with him ; 
under his arm to be protected ; and near his 
heart to be beloved." The point of unity for 
all the races of men appears in the creation of 
one human pair at the beginning. 1 

23. This is now bone of my bone, 
and flesh of my flesh. The woman's deri- 
vation from man and her consequent likeness to 
him are strongly expressed in these words (i Cor. 
n : 8, 12). The term ishah (the feminine of 
ish) is also suggestive of the woman's likeness 
to man, and oneness with him : She shall be 
called woman (ntS?K, 'ishah) because she 
was taken out of man (K^K, 'ish). The 
word &T8, given by Adam to himself, and sig- 
nificant probably of man's authority, is related to 
D*W, adam, as vir to homo, and a">?p to av0pwiro?. 

24. Therefore shall a man leave his 
father and his mother, etc. It is not quite 
clear whether these are the words of Moses or 
of Adam ; but in either case they proceed from 
divine inspiration, for in Matt. 19 : 5 they are 
quoted by our Lord as spoken by the Creator, 
and as constituting the divine institution of 
marriage (comp. Mark 10 : 2-9). In this union be- 
tween husband and wife, we have a type of the 
union existing between Christ and his church 
(Eph. 5 : 32 ) } and a condemnation of polygamy 
and all incestuous connections. 



25. And were not ashamed. These 
words are expressive of childlike innocence and 
purity on the part of our first parents, which, 
while maintained, prevented their feeling shame, 
which is the consequence of sin ($ ■ 1, io, 11). 

Chap. 3. 1-24. The Temptation and 
Fall. The primeval innocence and happiness 
of our first parents were probably of short dura- 
tion ; Satan, actively intent on evil, would not 
long delay his attack. The sacred historian 
attempts no explanation of moral evil ; 2 he 
contents himself with narrating the fact of its 
entrance into the world, and the part which 
Adam and Eve, yielding to the seductions of 
the tempter, took therein. 

There is nothing inexplicably mysterious or 
unaccountable in their fall, or in the transgres- 
sion which led to it. They must have had the 
susceptibilities to temptation which belong to 
free moral agents, otherwise they could have 
had no trial. These susceptibilities imply 
nothing wrong in the person possessing them, 
but only that he is capable of wrong. Our 
Saviour must have possessed them or he could 
not have been " tempted in all points as we are." 

The temptation of our first parents came from 
without ; that of Satan from within. How in a 
universe, yet unstained by sin, evil could have 



1 Professor Del itzsch has exhibited the proofs of this unity in the following compressed statement: 
"That the races of men are not species of one genus, but are varieties of one species, is proved by the 
agreement of the physiological and pathological phenomena in all men ; the same anatomical structure, 
the same elementary powers and traits of mind, the same limits to the duration of life, liability to the 
same diseases, the same normal temperature of the body and the same mean frequency of the pulse, the 
same duration of pregnancy, the periodicity of the catamenia, the unrestricted fruitfulness of the 
cohabitation of all races with one another. Such sameness is nowhere found in the animal world, among 
the species of one genus." 

2 " Man is conscious to himself that whatever sinful acts he commits are his own acts ; that they are 
the expression of his own free will, and that he himself, and no one else, is accountable for them. 

" At the same time, he perceives in himself an innate, natural tendency to evil, manifesting itself in 
the earliest developments of his moral consciousness, and of its own nature producing sinful acts. 

" He is conscious to himself that this innate tendency to evil does not justify or excuse his sinful acts, 
and that the tendency itself cannot be justified or excused any more than the acts to which it leads ; and 
he holds himself blameworthy for the one as well as for the other. 

" These seeming discrepancies find their explanation in the facts here recorded. The individual man 
is not an isolated being, but stands in organic connection with a race estranged from God, and he shares 
the common guilt and common accountability. He cannot disavow either without disowning the moral 
instincts of his own nature " (Conant). 

" In all questions affecting man's responsibility, the testimony of the individual consciousness, the 
ultimate ground of appeal, apart from revelation, affirms moral evil to be no all-controlling necessity, but 
the free product of the will of the creature " ( Whitelaw). 



Ch. III.] 



GENESIS 



65 



CHAPTER III. 



1 NOW the serpent was more subtil than any 
beast of the held which the Lord God had made. 
And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, 
Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden ? 

2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may 
eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden : 

3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the 
midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not 
eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. 

4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall 
not surely die : 



1 NOW the serpent was more subtil than any 
beast of the field which the Lord God had 
made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath 
God said, Ye shall not eat of any tree of the 

2 garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, 
Of the fruit of the trees of the garden we may 

3 eat : but of the fruit of the tree which is in the 
midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not 
eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. 

4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall 



entered the bosom of a pure, unfallen spirit, 
none can explain. Possibly the fact of the 
temptation of the first human pair having come 
to them from without, was the mitigating cir- 
cumstance that made their recovery from the 
consequences of the fall possible ; while, for 
this mighty angel, transformed into a devil by 
a self-originating disloyalty and malignity, 
recovery was forever impossible. 

In relating the story of the fall it was proba- 
bly the purpose of the writer to show that man, 
in tjhe exercise of his own free volition, put an 
end to his pristine purity and happiness, and 
that he, consequently, and not God, was the 
responsible party. 

1. Now the serpent was more subtil 
than any beast of the field. These words 
are spoken of the serpent kind — of serpents in 
general, which are proverbially crafty, and have 
always been so represented (Matt. 10 : 16). In the 
words which follow, " the serpent " refers to the 
particular serpent into which Satan entered, or 
likeness which he assumed, in tempting Eve. 

In the opinion of some this account is to be 
taken as parable or allegory ; it is alleged that 
no real serpent was present, but that the serpent 
is simply selected on account of its reputed cun- 
ning to represent Satan. That is, when the 
apostle says " The serpent beguiled Eve " (2 Cor. 
11 = 3), he means that the devil, under the name 
of serpent, beguiled her. But that there was a 
real serpent is evident from its comparison with 
the " beasts of the field," and from its form being 
made the basis of the curse that was pronounced 
upon it (ver. 14). The serpent spoke under a 
supernatural influence, and " before the habits 
of animals had, by long observation, come to be 
regarded as immutable laws of nature, a devia- 
tion from them could excite no such surprise as 
at present." It is no more surprising that 
angels who took the form of men should be 
called men (is : 2), than that Satan who took the 
form of a serpent should be called a serpent. 
As in the Gospels, those who were possessed by 
demons are represented as saying what the 
demons say by them (Matt. 8 : 29 ; Mark 1 : 24) t so 



here Satan is so identified with the serpent, that 
the serpent is asserted as saying that which 
Satan said by him. The Saviour says of the 
Evil One (John 8 : 44) : " He was a murderer from 
the beginning . . . when he speaketh a lie, he 
speaketh of his own : for he is a liar, and the 
father thereof" ; referring to this first act of 
deception on earth. So also John (i John 3 : 8) ; 
" The devil sins from the beginning," referring 

tO the Same act. (Comp. Rev. 12 : 9 ; 21 : 2 ; Rom. 16 : 20.) 

And he said unto the woman. The 

subtlety of Satan appears in his first approach- 
ing Eve, who was the weaker of the two, and 
therefore more easily persuaded (i Tim. 2 : 14 ; 1 
Peter 3:7). He knew that Eve's seduction hav- 
ing been accomplished, that of Adam through 
her would follow. Eve was evidently alone 
when the temptation was presented, and thus 
more defenseless than if she had been in her 
husband's company. 

Yea hath God said ; or, better, Is it even 
so that God hath said; thereby insinuating a 
doubt of God's goodness and implying that the 
prohibition was an unreasonable one. Ye 
shall not eat of every tree of the garden? 
An exaggeration of the divine prohibition, 
which interdicted one tree only. 

2,3. In the second verse the woman corrects 
the tempter's misstatement of the prohibition, 
and in the third repeats it with an addition 
(neither shall ye touch it), which may have 
been simply an inaccuracy in her understand- 
ing of Adam's report concerning it (Kalisch) ; 
" or the result of a rising feeling of dissatisfac- 
tion with the too great strictness of the prohibi- 
tion" (Del.); or a proof of her anxiety to 
observe the divine will (Calvin) ; or a state- 
ment of her understanding " that they were not 
to meddle with it as a forbidden thing " (Mur- 
phy). If " touch " be understood in the sense of 
plucking the fruit, the addition to the prohibi- 
tion is really implied in 2 : 16, 17. The word 
" lest " does not necessarily imply doubt (Ps. 2 : 12 ; 
isa. 27 : 3) • it points here to a consequence which 
is certain — its usual meaning. (Comp. ii:4; 19:15.) 

4,5. Ye shall not surely die. In these 



66 



GENESIS 



[Ch. III. 



5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat 
thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye 
shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. 

6 And when the woman saw that the tree was 
good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, 
and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took 
of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto 
her husband with her ; and he did eat. 



5 not surely die : for God doth know that in the 
day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be 
opened, and ye shall be as God, knowing good 

6 and evil. And when the woman saw that the 
tree was good for food, and that it was a delight 
to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired 
to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, 
and did eat ; and she gave also unto her hus- 



words Satan impeaches the Divine veracity, 
and utters the first recorded lie. Perhaps their 
meaning would be best brought out by empha- 
sizing the word "die." "Ye shall not surely 
die. No such dreadful evil is to be appre- 
hended. God knows that on the day of your 
eating, your eyes will be opened, and that you 
will be like himself, knowing good and evil." 
Under the semblance of truth, Satan concealed 
the essence of a lie. Their eyes were indeed 
opened, not in the sense of gaining a kind of 
divine omniscience, as Eve probably antici- 
pated, but by becoming deeply conscious of 
guilt and shame. . 

6. The tree possessed a threefold attraction: 
it was " good for food," "a delight to the eyes," 
and " to be desired to make one wise." It thus 
embodied " the lust of the flesh, and the lust of 
the eyes, and the vainglory of life " (i John 2 : 16). 
Like Achan, Eve saw, and coveted, and took 

(Josh. 7 : 21 ; James 1 : 5). 

Temptation, to succeed, must find a footing in 
the nature that is tempted. This first great 
temptation rooted itself in the distrust of God's 
goodness and truth which the tempter succeeded 
in instilling into the mind of Eve. A breach 
having been made in the citadel of her integrity, 
the way was open for the troop of evils which 
then rushed in. The tempter's designs were 
half accomplished when he had gained her ear ; 
her danger began when she listened to his words 
and deliberated. 

Temptation in itself, is not sin ; it becomes such 
only when it is yielded to. Temptation resisted 
is moral strength ; yielded to, the person is left 
the weaker for the next assault. Eve's listen- 
ing to the sophistry of the serpent was the fatal 
step which led to the disastrous consequences 
which followed. This step, in which Adam 
concurred, was her own free and unconstrained 



act; for Satan, though he might allure to sin, 
could not compel. Adam seems to have been 
present when Eve plucked the fruit and ate. 
As the commandment came first to him, and he 
was the appointed guardian of his wife, he 
should now have interfered to prevent the act 
and save her from the tempter. Instead, how- 
ever of doing so, he becomes her accomplice and 
makes her act his own. Hence, being the more 
responsible party, while her transgression was 
first in the order of time (i Tim. 2 : n) ) his was 
the more inexcusable (Rom. 5 : 12, 19 ; 1 cor. 15 : 21, 
22). 

The history of this temptation is virtually 
that of every temptation since. No one be- 
comes a monster in iniquity or crime at once. 
The most advanced stages of wrong-doing are 
reached by degrees ; J hence the importance of 
guarding against the beginnings of evil. 
[Temptation must find in the soul it assails 
something akin to itself before there can be any 
response. How then can a holy soul be tempted 
to sin ? While a holy soul cannot be tempted 
by sin, it may be tempted to sin. Moral purity 
does not relieve from the natural desires for 
food and knowledge which are due to finiteness 
and dependence. The craving after them will 
persist also, even in a pure soul, in the face of a 
divine command or of circumstances which 
make their gratification a sin. In this case 
there is a conflict between the desire to gratify 
a natural craving in itself innocent or even 
commendable and a desire to obey God. Were 
one famishing as was our Lord when this form 
of trial assailed him, the temptation to relieve 
the pangs of hunger at the sacrifice of duty to 
God might be terrific. The form of the tempta- 
tion of our first parents, appealing to a desire in 
itself innocent and even praiseworthy, was of the 
kind which would assail even a pure soul, and 



1 " The subtlety of the tempter was evinced in these respects : (1) The assault was commenced before 
use and practice had confirmed the first pair in obedience. (2) He began with the woman who was the 
weaker of the two. (3) He attacked her when alone, the best time for temptation. Beware of solitude. 
(4) He selected the best ground for delivering his first blow— when the woman was in full sight of the 
tree. (5) He was extremely cautious so to moderate his onset as not to excite alarm, beginning with a 
casual inquiry. (6) He advanced by degrees as he obtained a footing in the woman's heart. (7) He 
never revealed the proper scope and drift of his observations, but always couched them in obscure and 
ambiguous language. (8) He never seemed to lead but always to be following the woman's thought. 
(9) In all he said and did he pretended to be seeking his victim's good. (10) He chose the best of all 
possible baits to captivate the woman's fancy and excite her cupidity— the hope of gaining knowledge " 
(Whitelaw). 



Ch. III.] GENESiS 

7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and 
they knew that tliey were naked ; and they sewed 
fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. 

8 And they heard the voice of the Lord God 
walking in the garden in the cool of the day : and 
Adam and his wife hid themselves from the pres- 
ence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the 
garden. 

9 And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said 
unto him, Where art thou? 

10 And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, 
and I was afraid, because I was naked ; and I hid 
myself. 

11 And he said, Who told thee that thou wast 
naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I 
commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? 



6? 



7 band with her, and he did eat. And the eyes of 
them both were opened, and they knew that 
they were naked ; and they sewed fig leaves to- 

8 gether, and made themselves aprons. And they 
heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the 
garden in the cool of the day : and the man and 
his wife hid themselves from the presence of the 
Lord God amongst the trees of the garden. 

9 And the Lord God called unto the man, and 

10 said unto him, Where art thou? And he said, 
I heard thy voice in the garden, and 1 was 
afraid, because I was naked ; and I hid myself. 

11 And he said, Who told thee that thou wast 
naked ? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I 
commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? 



is in perfect harmony with the original nature 
attributed to them. There is no great mystery 
in the fact that they were tempted although 
pure. Their purity also is described as that of 
untested innocence, and therefore weak. The 
testing fitted to develop strength of moral fiber 
had but just begunf The greatest difficulties 
are connected with the apparent smallness of 
the temptation to which they surrendered, the 
mighty results which followed, and how they 
were permitted to fall in view of them all. The 
solution of the mysteries involved may be in 
the unique nature of the free will with which 
our first parents were originally endowed, and 
of which we as sinful are not fully able to judge. 
In any case sin exists as the saddest of all facts. 
Unless we deny either that God exists or is 
holy, it exists under the moral government of 
the holy God. Unless we accept dualism and 
hold sin to have existed eternally, it had a be- 
ginning while the holy and almighty One was 
on the throne. The rejection of the Scripture 
account of the origin of moral evil will not help 
us in facing the facts. It is safe to say that no 
attempt to grapple with this dark subject better 
commends itself, apart from the question of its 
inspiration altogether, than does this narrative.] 

7. And they knew that they were naked 
—in both soul and body— despoiled of the robe of 
original righteousness and innocency with which 
the Creator had clothed them. As the language 
in 2 : 25 is expressive of purity and peace of 
mind, so here it is expressive of conscious guilt, 
of self-condemnation and shame (Rev. s : 17). 

They sewed fig leaves together— rather, 
they fastened or tied them together. The species 
of fig tree denoted by the Hebrew is the common 
fig tree, whose leaves "surpass in size those of 
any other tree in Western Asia, and are often 
made into fruit baskets by sewing or pinning 
them together with slender twigs or thorns." 

And made themselves aprons — or rather, 
girdles — the same word being so rendered in 2 
Sam. 18 : 11 and 1 Kings 2 : 5. 



8. In their unfallen state Adam and Eve 
were admitted to intimate converse with the 
Lord God, who probably appeared to them in 
a visible and human shape. 

Taking the "walking" here as joined, not 
with "Lord" but with "voice," the voice of 
the Lord God must be understood to mean the 

SOUnd Of his footsteps (comp.. Lev. 26 : 36 ; 2 Sam. 5 ; 
24 ; 1 Kings 14 : 6 ; 2 King. 6 : 32). The Targuni of 

Onkelos favors the view that it was the voice of 
the Son of God, the second Person of the Trinity 
they heard, and so paraphrases, "they heard 
the voice of the Word of the Lord." It was a 
common belief with the Christian Fathers that 
every appearance of God to the patriarchs and 
prophets was a manifestation of the eternal 
Son. 

In the cool of the day ; that is, in the 
evening, when in Eastern lands a cool breeze is 
wont to spring up. Comp. Cant. 2 : 17 and 4 : 
6 : " Until the day be cool " — lit., until the day 
shall breeze. The opposite is expressed in 18 : 
1: "The heat of the day." 

Hid themselves from the presence of 
the Lord. Conscious guilt, which ever shuns 
the revealing and reproving light, made them 
afraid (John 3 : is). How unavailing their efforts 
to flee the Divine presence ( Jer. 23 : 24 ; Amos 9 : 2, 
3 ; ps. 139 : 7-12) ; How mighty the voice of con- 
science ! In the breast of every man, according 
as he is innocent or guilty, it is a bosom friend 
or a bosom fury. 

9. Where art thou ? The Lord God put 
this question, not for the purpose of learning 
Adam's hiding-place, but to awaken in him a 
sense of his guilt and bring him to confession 
(comp. 4:9). God would not punish without 
previous inquiry and proof. 

10. I was afraid, etc. . . . and I hid 
myself— a reply in which Adam convicts him- 
self, since his knowledge of his nakedness was 
the consequence of his sin. 

11. Who told thee that thou wast 
naked? Hast thou eaten, etc. — questions 



68 



GENESIS 



[Ch. III. 



12 And the man said, The woman whom thou 
gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and 
I did eat. 

18 And the Lord God said unto the woman, 
What is this that thou hast done? And the woman 
said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat. 

14 And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Be- 
cause thou hast done this, thou art cursed above 
all cattle, and above every beast of the field ; upon 
thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all 
the days of thy life : 

15 And I will put enmity between thee and the 
woman, and between thy seed and her seed ; it 
shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his 
heel. 



12 And the man said, The woman whom thou 
gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, 

13 and I did eat. And the Lord God said unto the 
woman, What is this thou hast done? And the 
woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did 

14 eat. And the Lord God said unto the serpent, 
Because thou hast done this, cursed art thou 
above all cattle, and above every beast of the 
field ; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust 
shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: and 1 

15 will put enmity between thee and the woman, 
and between thy seed and her seed : it shall 
bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. 



linking Adam's consciousness of guilt to the act 
in which it originated. 

12. The woman whom thou gavest to 
he with me. In these words Adam more than 
shifts the blame to the woman ; he virtually 
reproaches God. He says by implication : " if 
thou hadst given me a different sort of a woman 
for a companion — a woman less susceptible to 
temptation, this thing had not occurred." 

13. As Adam put the blame upon Eve, Eve 
following his example, passed it along to the 
serpent: "The serpent beguiled me, and I did 
eat." 

14. Cursed art thou above all cattle. 
Having by his interrogations reached the foun- 
tainhead of the evil, the divine Judge proceeds to 
deliver the respective sentences, beginning with 
the serpent. As ' ' above all cattle " implies that 
the other animals were cursed, though in a less 
degree, the marginal rendering "from among 
all cattle," that is, separate and apart from all, 
is to be preferred. The curse is evidently aimed, 
not at the other beasts, but at the serpent only. 
This view is favored by the preposition JD, min, 
which is here employed to express not compar- 
ison, but selection (see Ges. § ii9, 3) } as in Exod. 
19 : 5 ; Deut. 14 : 2 ; Judg. 5 : 24 ; Amos 3 : 2. 

The words of this curse must be understood as 
applying literally to the serpent, and figura- 
tively to Satan. To the question, why should 
an irrational and therefore irresponsible creature 
have been punished ? it may be replied that it is 
a principle of the divine government that the 
instrument of sin shall share its punishment 
(Exod. 21 : 28 ; Lev. 20 : is). Moreover, by the deg- 
radation of the serpent, God would express his 
detestation of sin and perpetually remind man- 
kind of its evil consequences. 

Upon thy belly shalt thou go. These 
words seem to imply that the original form and 
motion of the serpent were changed ; but they 
may mean no more than that the natural habits 
and structure of the animal were made a per- 
petual memorial of the curse affixed to it. The 
same is true of the expression dust shalt thou 



eat, which means, not that dust was henceforth 
to constitute the food of the serpent, but that in 
consequence of its crawling on the ground, dust 
would necessarily mingle with its food, and that 
in this respect it would be degraded. Micah 7 : 
17 contains an allusion to this sentence : " They 
shall lick the dust like a serpent," that is, they 
(the nations) shall be debased and made con- 
temptible (comp. Ps. 72 : 9 ; so also Isa. 65 : 25). But 

the curse pronounced upon the literal serpent 
extended to that old serpent, the devil, whom 
God addressed in the serpent, declaring against 
him the punishment of a deeper degradation. 
This becomes clear in the next verse, the thought 
of which is progressively expressed, advancing 
from the literal to the spiritual, from the general 
to the personal. 

15. This verse is a prediction of enmity, of 
conflict, and of victory. Of enmity between 
thee and the woman, which has always had 
fulfilment in the relation of the literal serpent 
to mankind, many of whom suffer from its ven- 
omous bites, but in a higher sense, in that of the 
spiritual tempter of mankind. Of conflict be- 
tween thy seed and her seed, that is, be- 
tween the children of the devil — those who have 
the devil's spirit and do his works, and the 
children of God — those whose spirit and works 
are of the opposite description (Matt. 13 : 38; John 
8 : 44; i John 3 : 10). Of victory ; for while each 
should bruise the other, it is the serpent's head, 
a vital part, that is to be crushed, while only 
the heel of Eve's seed was to be wounded. The 
conflict between the good and the evil will end 
in the complete overthrow of the spirit of evil 

(1 John 3:8; Heb. 2 : 14 ; Rev. 20 : 2, 3, 10) by Him Who 

is preeminently the seed of the woman (Gai. 3 : 
16). It shall bruise thy head, or, rather, 

he shall bruise thy head (Rom. 16 : 20 ; comp. 91 : is). 
The church of Eome, following the Douay ver- 
sion, which reads : she shall crush thy head, ap- 
plies this prophecy to the Virgin Mary, and 
cites it as a ground for the dogma of the Im- 
maculate Conception. But this version is gram- 
matically incorrect, for in the Hebrew both the 



Ch. III.] 



16 Unto the woman he said, I will greatly mul- 
tiply thy sorrow and thy conception ; in sorrow 
thou shalt bring forth children ; and thy desire 
shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over 
thee. 

17 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast 
hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast 
eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, say- 
ing, Thou shalt not eat of it : cursed is the ground 
for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the 
days of thy life ; 



GENESIS 



69 



16 Unto the woman he said, I will greatly mul- 
tiply thy sorrow and thy conception ; in sor- 
row thou shalt bring forth children ; and thy 
desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule 

17 over thee. And unto Adam he said, Because 
thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, 
and hast eaten of the tree, of which I com- 
manded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it : 
cursed is the ground for thy sake ; in toil shalt 



pronoun and the verb are masculine, showing 
that not the woman, but the seed of the woman 
is the subject of the prophecy. And thou 
shalt bruise his heel. Satan bruised the 
Saviour's heel when he brought him to the 
cross ; but the Saviour, by dying on the cross, 
vanquished Satan and defeated all his hellish 
designs. 

On account of the promise of salvation con- 
tained in this verse, it has been called the Prot- 
evangelium, or the First Gospel. The thunder- 
ing tones of offended justice were quickly 
succeeded by the sweet whispers of mercy. This 
promise, spoken before the sentence against our 
first parents, flung a ray of hope across their 
darkened future, and became the fountainhead 
of that copious stream of prophecy which broad- 
ened and deepened as it flowed onward. 1 

16. Unto the woman he said. It is 
noticeable that though God punished Adam 
and Eve, he did not curse them, as he did the 
serpent ; and their punishment was tempered 
with mercy, for they were yet "candidates for 
restoration." 

I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and 
thy conception. It is better to give the 
"and" an emphatic sense and regard the sec- 
ond term as expressing in particular what the 
first term expresses in general: "thy sorrow 
and (especially) thy conception" (isa. 2 : i ; see 
Ges., § 155a). The execution of this sentence 
upon the woman has always been with pain 

(Isa. 13 : 8 ; 21 : 3 ; John 16 : 21). Since to be fruitful 

and multiply was a blessing (i = 28), in a sinless 
state it could never have been a punishment, 
and might possibly have been without anguish 
(Exod. 1 : 19). Naturalists tell us that the lower 
animals, which were not cursed at the same time 
with the serpent, are for the most part exempt 
from the pangs of parturition. 

Thy desire shall be to thy husband. 
The word here rendered desire, np'ltfl-l, teshu- 
qah, occurs in only two other passages — 4 : 



7 and Cant. 7 : 11. Interpreted in the light 
of the latter, it may be taken as expressive of 
conjugal affection ; the meaning favored by the 
former is deferential submissiveness, which is 
here to be preferred. He shall rule over 
thee. The supremacy over the woman which 
had been assigned to man at the creation, and 
the woman's dependence on the man and sub- 
ordination to him, are here distinctly asserted. 
The sentence, however, furnishes no justifica- 
tion of the tyrannous treatment which the 
woman has received at the hands of her hus- 
band, especially in heathen and Mohammedan 
countries. Christianity emphatically condemns 
such treatment (Kph. 5 : 22, 23) } and places woman 
on the same level as regards the blessings of the 
gospel (Gai. 3 : 28). The Old Testament contains 
many proofs of the high regard which was had 
for woman, and of the high position she oc- 
cupied in the social scale among the ancient 
Hebrews. 

17. And unto Adam he said. Here, for 
the first time, Adam occurs without the article, 
as a proper name. Because thou hast 
hearkened unto the voice of thy wife. 
In obeying the voice of his wife, who had per- 
suaded him to eat the forbidden fruit, Adam 
really disobeyed the voice of God. 

Cursed is the ground for thy sake. The 
change in man's spiritual nature and relations 
appears to have been followed by a change in 
physical nature (Rom. 8 : 22). As a consequence, 
on going forth from Eden, he found certain por- 
tions of the earth stubbornly barren, and other 
portions rank with useless and hurtful plants, 
necessitating much toil and drudgery on his 
part in obtaining the means of subsistence. The 
curse of the ground was the punishment which 
God sometimes inflicted upon his disobedient 

people (Deut. 28 : 23, 24; Isa. 24 : 6 ; Jer. U : 22). On 

the other hand, fruitfulness and fragrance 
marked "the field which Jehovah had blest" 

(27 : 27). 



1 Some of the heathen mythologies contain traditions which seem to have reference to the prophecy in 
this fifteenth verse. For example, Maurice, in his History of Hindo start, Vol. II., p. 290, relates that "two 
sculptured figures are yet extant in one of the oldest pagodas of the Hindoos, the former of which repre- 
sents Chreeshna, an incarnation of their mediatorial god, Vishnu, trampling on the crushed head of the 
serpent ; while in the latter it is seen encircling the deity in its folds, and biting his heel." 



70 



GENESIS 



[Ch. III. 



18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to 
thee ; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field : 

19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, 
till thou return unto the ground ; for out of it wast 
thou taken : for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt 
thou return. 

20 And Adam called his wife's name Eve ; be- 
cause she was the mother of all living. 

21 Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord 
God make coats of skins, and clothed them. 

22 And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is 
become as one of us, to know good and evil : and 



18 thou eat of it all the days of thy life; thorns 
also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee ; 

19 and thou shalt eat the herb of the field ; in the 
sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou 
return unto the ground ; for out of it wast thou 
taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt 

20 thou return. And the man called his wife's 
name Eve; because she was the mother of all 

21 living. And the Lord God made for Adam and 
for his wife coats of skins, and clothed them. 

22 And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is 
become as one of us, to know good and evil ; 



18. Thorns, "pp, qots, and thistles, "n-n, 
dhardar, stand for all kinds of troublesome 

Weeds (isa. 5:6; 7 : 23 ; Hosea 10 : 8). ThOU Shalt 

eat the herb of the field. The herb, nfe 
'esebh, which embraces all kinds of seed-bear- 
ing plants between grasses and trees, had al- 
ready been assigned to man for food (i : 29). 
Upon this food, instead of the spontaneous fruits 
to which he had been used in paradise, he would 
now be principally dependent, and he would be 
obliged to obtain it by diligent cultivation. 

19. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou 
eat bread. Man was created to be a worker ; 
and there was mercy in the arrangement that 
the lighter work, which was appointed to him 
in his unfallen, should become more onerous 
in his fallen state. It would serve as a pre- 
servative against sin — a means of averting 
greater misery. The toils and hardships of life 
were doubtless intended to make man less un- 
willing to quit the world, and to lead him to 
seek for happiness in a future and better state. 

Till thou return unto the ground. 
That is, till death, in which the sentence upon 
Adam and upon the race that died in him cul- 
minated. The fulfilment of the threatening in 
2 : 17 took effect at once so far as his spiritual 
life was concerned, and began at once to take 
effect as regards his body, though in the latter 
respect its complete execution was suspended 
for a time to make room for the dispensation 
of grace, and to afford space for repentance. 
By acceding to the offer of life through the 
promised seed, the penalty which man had in- 
curred might be Immediately remitted so far 
as it affected his higher spiritual nature ; but 
as it concerned his lower physical nature, it 
could only be delayed. Though not the proper 
penalty of sin, physical death is yet, in the 
nature and dread of it, a fruit and consequence 
of sin. 

The death that came into the world by sin 
(Rom. 5 : 12) must be restricted to man ; it did not 
pertain to the inferior animals. Their destruc- 
tive instincts always belonged to them ; they 
were predacious, devoured one another, before 
the creation of man. The Scriptures nowhere 



assert that the irrational animals had ever been 
exempt from death. On the contrary, the decla- 
ration of the apostle is that "death passed upon 
all men," thus excluding other creatures. 

20. And Adam, the man, called his 
wife's name Eve. On the creation of Eve, 
Adam had called her H^X, Hshah, wife, as indi- 
cating her close relationship to himself (2 : 23); but 
here he bestows on her the name T\\H, havva, 
life, as denoting her relationship to the whole 
human family, for "she was the mother of all 
living." 

21. Unto Adam also and to his wife 
did the Lord God make coats of skins, 
and clothed them. The Lord God made these 
coats for Adam and Eve by their own hands; 
and the work is ascribed to him on the principle 
that what one does by another he does himself; 
just as it is said of Jacob: "He made him 
(Joseph) a coat of many colors," that is, he 
caused to be made. Although under sentence 
for disobedience, as they were about to be sent 
forth to endure the hardships outside of Eden, 
God still keeps them under his fatherly care, 
and provides for them more suitable clothing. 
Of skins. Some have supposed of animals offered 
in sacrifice, but this is very doubtful. The skins 
of animals would be the most natural kind of 
clothing at the beginning. 

22. The man is become as one of us. 
The explanation which restricts the "us" of 
this clause to the Persons of the Godhead is to 
be preferred to that which makes it inclusive 
(Dods, Delitzsch) of the angels. Some discover 
here the Hebrew idiom by which an action is 
said to be done when it is merely attempted or 
proposed to be done, and take the words as im- 
plying what the man had aimed and attempted 
to become, rather than what he actually had 

become ( see note on 37 : 21 ; comp. Exod. 8 : 18 ; Josh. 24 : 

9). According to this view, swayed by the 
tempter's luring promise, "ye shall be as God," 
he was no longer satisfied with wearing God's 
image, but would be like God in every other 
respect. 

To know good and evil ; that is, for him- 
self, by setting up his own will in opposition to 



Ch. III.] 



GENESIS 



71 



now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of 
the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever : 

23 Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from 
the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence 
he was taken. 

24 So he drove out the man: and he placed at 
the east of the garden of Eden cherubim, and a 



the will of God, and thus becoming independ- 
ent of God. He became his own master at the 
cost of his own destruction. He did not come 
to know good and evil altogether as God knows 
it, but in an experimental sense as the devil 
knows it. "In point of knowledge he became 
like God ; in point of morality like the tempter." 
And now lest he put forth his hand, 
etc. The passage is evidently elliptical — "and 
now care must be taken lest," or, " now he must 
be driven forth lest," etc. As thus filled up, it 
completely harmonizes with the next verse: 
1 ' Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from 
the garden." 

And take also of the tree of life, and 
eat, and live for ever. It must not be in- 
ferred from these words that by once partaking 
of the fruit of this tree, he would be forever 
secured against death. The tree was an emblem 
and pledge to the first human pair that a happy, 
undying life would be continued to them while 
they remained in communion with God, but it 
possessed no remedial virtue to restore that 
life when once it was lost. "They were ex- 
pelled from paradise, not because their eating 
of the tree of life would have rendered them 
immortal, but because it was proper that hav- 
ing forfeited the thing signified, they should 
henceforth be debarred from the sign." 

24. So he drove out the man. The verb, 
tjnj, garash, "to drive out, to expel," and the 
Piel of rpt#, shalach, "to send," employed in 
the preceding verse, are both expressive of force 
and displeasure, and show the act of banish- 
ment to have been a judicial one. 

And he placed at the east of the gar- 
den of Eden. The stationing of the Cheru- 
bim at the east of the garden shows this to have 
been the point of exit and departure from it. 
On being driven out, Adam and Eve turned 
their steps toward the east— the direction of 
the first migration of the race. They did not, 
however, leave the Edenic district; Cain ap- 
pears to have been the first to do that (* : ie). 

Cherubim, the Cherubim. The etymology 
of the word is uncertain. 

The use of the article shows that at the time 
this was written the term expressed a well- 
known object or conception. According to 
Exod. 25 : 20, those which were placed above 



and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take 
also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for 

23 ever: therefore the Lord God sent him forth 
from the garden of Eden, to till the ground 

24 from whence he was taken. So he drove out 
the man ; and he placed at the east of the gar- 
den of Eden the Cherubim, and the flame of a 



the mercy seat in the tabernacle had each one 
face (probably of a man) and two wings — 
which was probably true also of those placed 
by Solomon, though in much larger propor- 
tions, in the temple (i Kings 6 : 24) ; it may be 
inferred that such was the form and appearance 
of those stationed at the gates of paradise. 

The description of the much more complicated 
form of the Cherubim given in Ezekiel (1 = 6 ; 
10 : 12 ; 41 : is, 19) and in Revelation (4 : 7, 8) is 
peculiar to those books, and cannot, therefore, 
be taken as determinative of that of the Edenic 
Cherubim or of those of the tabernacle and 
temple. There is reason, however, to believe 
that all the Cherubim of the Bible, whether in 
their earlier, simpler, or later more composite 
form, bore the human face. 

On the question whether the Cherubim of 
Eden were living beings, angels of God, em- 
ployed as guards, or symbolical figures or im- 
ages like those afterward placed over the mercy 
seat in the holy of holies (Exod. 25 : is, 22), opinion 
is divided. The latter is the better sustained 
view. The Cherubim are nowhere represented 
in Scripture as possessing independent person- 
ality, like the DON^D, malakim, angels ; they 
are never sent forth like the angels on errands 
of mercy or judgment, " but are constantly con- 
fined to the seat of the divine habitation and 
the manifestations of the divine being." The 
manifold form under which they are presented 
speaks for their symbolical character. 

Pages might be filled with the different ex- 
planations which have been attempted of the 
mystical purport of the Cherubim, of which 
many have been purely conjectural. All of 
them, however, have taken cognizance of the 
fact that they were intimately connected with 
the shekinah, or visible divine glory — formed 
an essential part of the apparatus of the taber- 
nacle and temple in which God condescended 
to dwell and visibly to manifest himself. And 
this was equally true of the Cherubim of Ezekiel 
and Revelation, in which they appear in close 
association with God's personal presence — as 
standing in the immediate neighborhood of the 

throne (Ezek. 10 : 4, 5; Rev. 4:5; 5:6; 7 : ll). 

The God of Israel was pleased to fix his throne 
upon the mercy seat, between the Cherubim. 
" And there I will meet with thee, and I will 



72 



GENESIS 



[Ch. IV. 



flaming sword which turned every way, to keep 
the way of the tree of life. 



sword which turned every way, to keep the way 
of the tree of life. 



CHAPTER IV 



1 AND Adam knew Eve his wife ; and she con- 
ceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a 
man from the Lord. 

2 And she again bare his brother Abel. And 
Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller 
of the ground. 



commune with thee from above the mercy seat, 
from between the two Cherubim which are upon 
the ark of the testimony" (Exod. 25 : 22). Ac- 
cordingly the psalmist could say : " O Shepherd 
of Israel, who art enthroned between the Cheru- 
bim, shine forth " (ps. bi : 1 ; comp. Ps. 99 : 1). Much 
may be said in favor of Alford's view, "that 
the placing of these Cherubim at the east of 
Eden was indicative of ordinances of worship, 
and a form of access to the divine presence still 
open to man, though he was debarred from en- 
trance into paradise." " The cherubic appear- 
ance," says Holden, "at the entrance of the 
garden of Eden, was not intended to drive our 
first parents from the tree of life in terror, but to 
inspire them with hope, to demonstrate to them 
that the divine mercy was still vouchsafed to 
man, though now fallen, and to be an emblem- 
atical representation of the covenant of grace." 

And a flaming sword (lit., flame of the 
sword) which turned everyway. The flame 
was in the shape of a sword, and is not to be 
understood as borne in the hands of the Cheru- 
bim, but as separate from them, and darting out 
from their midst in a continuous flashing (Ezek. 
1 : 13 X Kalisch renders: "The flame of the 
coruscant sword," which he explains to mean 
" a rapidly turning sword, which thus produces 
a coruscant brilliancy." To keep the way 
of the tree of life. The purpose of the 
double guard was evidently to bar the way to the 
tree of life against man's entering and partak- 
ing of it; but it was "a provision of access as 
well as an ordinance of exclusion." As Mac- 
donald has observed, " to keep the way signifies 
to keep the way open as well as to keep it shut." 
The Cherubim and flaming sword speak of 
mercy as well as of judgment. They are "em- 
blems of God's natural and moral governments, 
which, as they execute his righteous will among 
men, do both debar them from perfect happi- 
ness and yet at the same time testify to the fact 
that there is such happiness for those who are 
prepared for it." 



Chap. 4. 1-16. Cain and Abel. In this 
chapter, with the exception of ver. 25, the name 
of the Divine Being is Jehovah. 



1 AND the man knew Eve his wife ; and she 
conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten 

2 a man with the help of the Lord. And again she 
bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper 
of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. 



Having, in the previous chapter, told the 
story of the fall of Adam and Eve, and of their 
banishment from paradise, the author now re- 
cites the beginnings of their history outside of 
paradise, commencing with the birth of their 
firstborn. 

1. And bare Cain. The word Cain, sig- 
nifying possession, reflects the joy with Avhich 
the first mother pressed to her bosom her first 
child — the firstborn of the race. The following 
clause has been variously interpreted, according 
as the particle JlX, 'eth, has been taken as a prep- 
osition or as the sign of the definite object. It 
might with equal grammatical propriety be 
either, and the words be rendered : 1 have gotten 
a man, with Jehovah ; or, I have gotten a man, 
the Jehovah. According to the first rendering, 
Eve is understood to say that she has gotten a 
man by the help or favor of Jehovah (for this 
use of n**, 'eth, see Gen. 21 : 20 ; 39 : 2, 21 ; also 
Septuagint which translates it by dia ) ; accord- 
ing to the second, that she supposed that Cain 
was the promised seed already come (3 : 15). 
The chief objection to the latter view is that it 
"appears to anticipate the development of the 
Messianic idea, and credits Eve with too mature 
Christological conceptions." 

2. And she again bare ; lit., added to 
bear, a Hebraism, adopted in the New Testa- 
ment (Luke 20:11). His brother. The word 
brother is here emphatic. It is used six times 
in ver. 8-11, as if to heighten the blackness of 
Cain's fratricidal act. 

Abel; that is, vanity. Some think that Abel 
may have been thus named by his parents to 
express the disappointment of their hopes con- 
cerning Cain ; others that the name may have 
been prophetic of Abel's untimely end. In Ps. 
39 : 5 it is applied to the condition of all men. 

Abel was a keeper of sheep ; or, rather, 
of flocks, jKtf, tson, including sheep and goats 
(Lev. 1 : 10). The flocks were kept probably for 
the sake of their wool and milk ; possibly also 
for their flesh. 

Cain was a tiller of the ground. The 
elder son naturally adopted the occupation of 
his father, while the younger chose the next in 
importance, that of tending the flocks. It is 



Ch. IV.] 



GENESIS 



73 



3 And in process of time it came to pass, that 
Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering 
unto the Lokd. 

4 And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of 
his flock and of the fat thereof. And the Lord 
had respect unto Abel and to his offering : 

5 But unto Cain and to his offering he had not 
respect. And Cain -was very wroth, and his coun- 
tenance fell. 

6 And the Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou 
wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen? 



3 And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain 
brought of the fruit of the ground an offering 

4 unto the Lord. And Abel, he also brought of 
the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. 
And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his 

5 offering : but unto Cain and to his offering he 
he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, 

6 and his countenance fell. And the Lord said 
unto Cain, Why art thou wroth ? and why is thy 



not unlikely that the father had to do with both 
these occupations, which were thus taken up by 
the sons. The pastoral life, though a degenera- 
tion from the agricultural, seems to have been 
held in higher esteem by the Hebrew than the 
latter; but in the order of civilization the 
agricultural succeeds the pastoral. 

3. And in process of time; lit., at the 
end of days. Some think that the end of the 
week and, therefore, the Sabbath is intended; 
others, the end of the year, or after harvest 
(days in Hebrew often signifying a year, e. g., 
yi Lev. 25 : 29; 1 Sam. 1:3), when a solemn 
festival may have been held as in after times 

(Exod. 23 : 16 ; 31 : 22). 

An offering. The Hebrew word is nn^D, 
minchah, which, though the offerings of the 
brothers differed in kind, is yet applied to each 
of them (ver. 4). After the institution of the 
different kinds of sacrifices under the Mosaic 
law, it was usually though not invariably ap- 
plied to bloodless, that is, vegetable offerings 
(Lev. 2:i, 4-8, 14-16) in contradistinction from 
bloody, that is, exclusively animal offerings, 
called n?T, zebach. Some think that Abel 
brought the nnj'p, minchah, vegetable offering, 
as well as the nDT, zebach, animal offering, and 
that his offering is designated n-Aetova ewiav ("a 
much more sacrifice," Heb. 11 : 4) on this 
account. 

4. Of the firstlings of his flock ; that 
is, the firstborn, which God afterward, by ex- 
press law, set apart for himself. 1 

And of the fat thereof; lit, fats. The 
plural is used because the fat of more than one 
animal is meant (Lev. 9 : 18-20). The fat was 
burned on the altar, as afterward directed in 
Lev. 3 : 3-5, 9-11, 14-16. The reason for thus 
disposing of the fatty portions was that they 
were regarded as the choice parts of the animal, 
and as belonging to the Lord (Lev. 3 : 16). 



And the Lord had respect unto Abel 
and to his offering. How this respect was 
indicated we are not informed. It was prob- 
ably by some visible sign intelligible to both 
the brothers. Many Jewish and Christian com- 
mentators favor the supposition that fire de- 
scended from heaven and consumed the sacrifice 

(comp. Lev. 9 : 24 ; 1 Kings 18 : 38 ; 1 Chron. 21 : 26 ; 2 Chron. 

5. But unto Cain and to his offering 
he had not respect. The language em- 
ployed shows that both the offerings and the 
offerers must be taken into account in finding 
the ground of the acceptance of Abel and of the 
rejection of Cain. It is: "Abel and his offer- 
ing," and " Cain and his offering." The offer- 
ings, however, appear to be the more secondary, 
the spirit and disposition of the offerers the 
more important, elements. Cain's offering was 
vegetable — a thing without life ; Abel's an ani- 
mal — a sacrifice of life. Cain's offering was a 
nnjD, minchah, a thank offering; Abel's a 
nil, zebach, a sin offering. (Under the law, sin 
offerings, though last in order of institution, 
were invariably the first in order of application 

[Lev. 8 : 9, 14, and 2 Chron. 29] ; and there Was no 

acceptance of thank offerings previous to sin 
offerings). Then, and more especially, Abel's 
offering was made by faith (Heb. n : *), which 
implies that Cain's was without faith. Abel's 
offering showed his faith in the promised Re- 
deemer, and was agreeable to God's appoint- 
ment of sacrifice ; Cain's was merely an ac- 
knowledgment of God as Creator, showed no 
true penitence for sin, nor belief in the use and 
efficacy of the divine institution of sacrifice. 

And Cain was very wroth; lit., it was 
very hot to Cain. His anger burned within him 

(Jer. 17 : 4). 

And his countenance fell. Cain looked 
downward, took the posture of one darkly 



1 Presumption is altogether against sacrifice originating with man. He would never have thought of 
propitiating the Deity by slaying and burning an innocent lamb, and sprinkling the altar with its blood, 
if he had not been so taught by God. We must conclude either that the whole system of bloody sacrifices 
is unmeaning and insignificant, or that God himself originated the system and enjoined it, and that good 
men of old observed it in obedience to special revelation from God (4 : 14; 8 : 20, 21 ; comp. 22 : 8). Our 
first parents, to whom the first promise was given, were doubtless informed of the way of salvation by 
Christ, to whom these bloody sacrifices pointed. 



74 



GENESIS 



[Ch. IV. 



7 Jf thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted ? 
and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door : 
and unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule 
over him. 

8 And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it 
came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain 
rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him. 

9 And the Lord said unto Cain, Where is Abel 
thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my 
brother's keeper? 

10 And he said, What hast thou done? the voice 
of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the 
ground. 

11 And now art thou cursed from the earth, which 
hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's 
blood from thy hand. 

12 When thou tillest the ground, it shall not 
henceforth yield unto thee her strength ; a fugitive 
and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth. 

13 And Cain said unto the Lord, My punishment 
is greater than I can bear. 

14 Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from 
the face of the earth ; and from thy face shall I be 
hid : and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in 
the earth ; and it shall come to pass, that every one 
that findeth me shall slay me. 



7 countenance fallen? If thou doest well, shalt 
thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not 
well sin coucheth at the door: and unto thee 
shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him. 

8 And Cain told Abel his brother. And it came to 
pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose 

9 up against Abel his brother and slew him. And 
the Lord said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy 
brother? And he said, 1 know not: am I my 

10 brother's keeper? And he said, What hast thou 
done ? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto 

11 me from the ground. And now cursed art thou 
from the ground, which hath opened her mouth 
to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand ; 

12 when thou tillest the ground, it shall not hence- 
forth yield unto thee her strength ; a fugitive and 

13 a wanderer shalt thou be in the earth. And Cain 
said unto the Lord, My punishment is greater 

14 than 1 can bear. Behold, thou hast driven me 
out this day from the face of the ground ; and 
from thy face shall I be hid ; and I shall be a 
fugitive and a wanderer in the earth ; and it 
shall come to pass, that whosoever findeth me 



brooding (Job 29 : 24) — a posture prevailing to 
this day in the East as a sign of evil plottings. 

7. If thou doest well, shalt thou not 
be accepted ? Or, which is to be preferred, 
shall there riot be a lifting upf namely, of the 
countenance ; shall not cheerfulness take the 
place of sullenness? The "lifting up" is in- 
tended to express the opposite of " his counte- 
nance fell " in ver. 5. 

And if thou doest not well, sin lieth 
{coucheth) at the door. Sin is here personi- 
fied as a wild beast, lying in wait and ready 
to spring upon its victim, either when going in 
or coming out. 

And unto thee shall be his desire, and 
thou shalt rule over him. [These sinister 
brooding thoughts you should rule over and 
subdue, or sin like a crouching wild beast will 
fulfil its desire and spring upon and master 
you. It was God's merciful warning which Cain 
refused to heed.] 

8. And Cain talked with (lit., said to) 
his brother. What he said to him is not 
stated. The sentence seems unfinished (i^e 3 : 
22), and the narrator hastens to inform us, not 
of Cain's words, but of his deed. The Samar- 
itan Pentateuch, Septuagint, Syriac, and Vul- 
gate versions supply the ellipsis with the words : 
"Let us go into the field," but on slender au- 
thority. These words were probably inserted 
from the difficulty of explaining the passage 
without them. 

9. I know not ; am I my brother's 
keeper? To the crime of murder Cain added 
the sin of lying, and thus showed his kinship to 
"that wicked one" who was a murderer and 
liar from the beginning (1 John 3 : 12). 

10. The voice of thy brothers blood, 



lit., bloods. The plural is usually employed 
to denote blood shed by violence and murder. 
Crieth unto me ; spoken of murder and 

Other Crimes (18 : 20, 21 ; 19 : 13 ; Exod. 3:9; Heb. 12 : 

24 ; James 5:4). The participle rendered "crieth " 
is in the plural, and agrees with " blood " rather 
than with " voice." The blood of Abel cried to 
God for vengeance, but that of Christ cries to 
God for mercy ; hence the latter is called the 
blood which speaketh better things than that of 

Abel (Heb. 12:24). 

From the ground. The ground hid Abel's 
blood, but could not stifle its voice in the ear of 
God. 

11. And now art thou cursed from the 
earth. Cursed art thou from the ground. This 
rendering is preferable to "cursed art thou 
away from the ground," for the latter implies 
that his punishment consisted simply in banish- 
ment from Eden. The language involves the 
additional idea of punishment from the ground 
as its source and instrument. Just as the land 
of Canaan is said to have spit out the Canaan- 
ites from the land which they had defiled with 
their abominable crimes (Lev. is : 25), so would 
the ground which had been compelled in viola- 
tion of its sanctity to drink Abel's blood, 
avenge itself on Cain by refusing to him its 
strength and a resting-place for his feet. 

13. My punishment is greater than I 
can bear. This rendering correctly expresses 
the sense of the original, but in a somewhat 
indirect way. The word fty, 'aon, here ren- 
dered punishment, strictly and uniformly means 
iniquity ; but "to bear iniquity" means to suf- 
fer the penalty due it (Lev. 19 : s ; 20 .- 19). The 
Hebrew may also be rendered, as in the Mar- 
gin, can be forgiven; but this would not so well 



Ch. IV.] 



GENESIS 



75 



15 And the Lord said unto him, Therefore who- 
soever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on 
hirn sevenfold. And the Lord set a mark upon 
Cain, lest any finding him should kill him. 

16 And Cam went out from the presence of the 
Lord, and dwelt in the laud of Nod, and on the 
east of Eden. 

17 And Cain knew his wife ; and she conceived, 
and bare Enoch : and he builded a city, and called 
the name of the city, after the name of his son, 
Enoch. 

18 And unto Enoch was born Irad : and Irad be- 
gat Mehujael : and Mehujael begat Methusael : and 
Methusael begat Lamech. 



15 shall slay me. And the Lord said unto him, 
Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance 
shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the Lord 
appointed a sign for Cain, lest any finding him 
should smite him. 

16 And Cain went out from the presence of the 
Lord, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east 

17 of Eden. And Cain knew his wife; and she 
conceived, and bare Enoch : and he builded a 
city, and called the name of the city, after the 

18 name of his son, Enoch. And unto Enoch was 
born Irad : and Irad begat Mehujael : and Me- 
hujael begat Methushael : and Methushael begat 



agree with the following verse in which Cain, 
who shows no signs of penitence, speaks of his 
punishment not with a view to its removal 
through forgiveness, but with a desire that it 
should be mitigated. 

15. Vengeance shall be taken on him 
sevenfold (that is, completely). By the 
threat of severe punishment (not in the sense of 
revenge) Jehovah would check the spirit of 
private retaliation and prevent blood revenge. 

And the Lord set a mark upon Cain, bet- 
ter, And the Lord appointed a sign for Cain . This 
was not a mark upon him, which, by identifying 
him, might have proved more a danger than a 
benefit, but some sign TViX, 'oth (isa. 38 : 7, 8), 
which served as a pledge to him that he should 
share the Lord's protection. God had formed a 
purpose of mercy toward the human family, 
and therefore even the murderer of a brother 
might have space for repentance, and obtain 
God's forgiveness if he would. 

16. From the presence of the Lord. 
The place of the divine manifestation — the 
vicinity of Eden. 

The land of Nod ; that is, of the wanderer. 
Its precise geographical situation cannot be 
determined. 

17-24. The Posterity of Cain. 17. 
And bare Enoch. On the supposition (the 
only one tenable) that the race has sprung from 
a single human pair, Cain must have married 
his sister. No daughters of Adam and Eve 
have as yet been mentioned, but we read of such 
in the next chapter (ver. *). Except for special 
reasons, the names of daughters are not com- 
monly given in the genealogical lists. Thus, of 
all Cain's female descendants, the only one 
named is Naamah (ver. 22). In the beginning, 
and previous to the giving of the law, marriages 
of persons nearly related were sometimes con- 
tracted which were afterward deemed incestu- 
ous, and forbidden. Abraham married his half- 
sister, Sarah ; and Moses was the offspring of a 
connection (Exod. 6 : 20) which he afterward 
expressly interdicted (Lev. is : 12). 

And he builded a city ; lit., was building 



a city. The participle denotes that the work 
was progressing, and not that it had been fin- 
ished. The word city is not to be interpreted 
by modern ideas. The Hebrew word *V#, 'ir, 
as employed in Scripture, stands for a large 
town, a village, or even nomadic encampment 

(Num. 13 : 19; corup. 2 Kings 17 : 9). The last of these 

definitions would satisfy all the conditions of 
the text. The fear that his murder might be 
avenged (ver. n) would naturally lead him to 
construct such a defense for himself and his 
family. 

And called the name of the city after 
the name of his son, Enoch. By giving 
the name of his son — not his own name ; its 
unsavory fratricidal odor forbade this — to the 
city which he had founded, he would hereby 
perpetuate the name of his family in connection 
with the city. The curse of banishment which 
lay upon him would be neutralized, moreover, 
by the stable center of unity to his family which 
the city became. 

18. And unto Enoch was born Irad, 
etc. [The remarkable similarity between the 
genealogy of Cain (ver. 17-22) and of Seth in the 
next chapter is seen when they are put side by 
side : 

Adam. Adam. 

Cain. Seth. 

Enoch. Enosh. 

Irad. Kenan. 

Mehujael. Mahalalel. 

Methushael. Jared. 

Lamech. Enoch. 

Methuselah. 
Lamech. 
This resemblance has been urged as a proof 
that the two genealogies are but duplicate rec- 
ords of a single original tradition. But this 
view is beset with difficulties. It is conjectured 
that Seth and Enoch originally belonged to the 
first list, making Cain the great-grandson of 
Adam as is Kenan in the second. Kenan is 
then conjectured to be the same as Cain. But 
4 : 1 and ver. 25 are admitted to be by the same 
writer, and Cain as well as Seth is declared to 



76 



GENESIS 



[Ch. IV. 



19 Arid Lamech took uuto him two wives : the 
name of the one was Adah, and the name of the 
other Zillah. 

20 And Adah bare Jabal : he was the father of 
such as dwell in tents, and of such as have cattle. 

21 And his brother's name was Jubal : he was the 
father of all such as handle the harp and organ. 

22 And Zillah, she also bare Tubal-cain, an in- 
structor of every artificer in brass and iron : and 
the sister of Tubal-cain was Naamah. 

23 And Lamech said unto his wives, Adah and 
Zillah, hear my voice ; ye wives of Lamech, hearken 
unto my speech : for I have slain a man to my 
wounding, and a young man to my hurt. 

24 If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, truly 
Lamech seventy and sevenfold. 



19 Lamech And Lamech took unto him two 
wives: the name of the one was Adah, and the 

20 name of the other Zillah. And Adah bare 
Jabal : he was the father of such as dwell in 

21 tents and have cattle. And his brother's name 
was Jubal : he was the father of all such as 

22 handle the harp and pipe. And Zillah, she also 
bare Tubal-cain, the forger of every cutting in- 
strument of brass and iron : and the sister of 
Tubal-cain was Naamah. 

23 And Lamech said unto his wives : 
Adah and Zillah, hear my voice ; 

Ye wives of Lamech, hearken unto my speech : 
For I have slain a man for wounding me, 
And a young man for bruising me : 

24 If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, 
Truly Lamech seventy and sevenfold. 



be the son of Adam. To relieve from this 
difficulty, ver. 17-22 are wrested from their 
connection and declared to belong to another 
writing. It is conjectured by others that orig- 
inally the second table began with Enosh, who 
is then identified with Adam. But this is to 
contradict all three of the alleged documents. 
The differences between most of the names and 
the order in which they stand in the tables 
make other conjectures necessary. 

On the other hand it is not so improbable that 
the same names would occur in two families, 
and that others might be nearly alike in sound 
and spelling, as is true to-day, and as is found 
elsewhere in the O. T. It must also be noticed 
that the speeches which are attributed to the 
Lamechs of the two tables show totally different 
characters. The names which seem so much 
alike (Cain and Kenan, Irad and Jared, Methu- 
shaeland Methuselah, Mehalalel and Mehujael) 
differ in their radical letters as well as probable 
significance. It is easier to explain the resem- 
blance of the two tables as distinct genealogies 
of two lines of descent from Adam than to 
reconcile the discrepancies on the other assump- 
tion.] 

19. And Lamech took unto him two 
wives. The first recorded instance of polyg- 
amy ; a practice directly violating the mar- 
riage institution as laid down in 2 : 24; comp. 
Mai. 2 : 14-16 ; Matt. 19 : 5, and having a most 
pernicious effect on society wherever it prevails. 
The names of the two wives are given as being 
necessary to the understanding of the song that 

follows (ver. 23, 24). 

20. Jabal , probably meaning profit, is men- 
tioned as the father, that is, the founder or 
originator, of the nomadic life. He introduced 
the custom of living in tents, and of keeping 
and managing cattle — the shepherd's occupa- 
tion. The word here rendered cattle, n.JpD, 
miqneh, means primarily possession ; but as the 
possessions of nomads consisted principally of 
flocks and herds, it became the usual word for 



cattle. As standing for cattle it has a wider 
meaning than jtf¥, tson (smaller cattle, as sheep 
and goats, 4:2); it comprehends also larger 
cattle (26 : h; 47 : 17), sometimes camels and asses 

(Exod. 9:3: Job 1 : 3). 

21. Jubal, signifying musical sound, is thus 
seen to be cognate to jubilant, jubilee. The 
harp and pipe stand respectively for stringed 
and wind instruments. The former was evi- 
dently a smaller instrument than the modern 
harp, being carried as an accompaniment of 
dancing and processional motion (1 Sam. 10 : 5 ; 2 
Sam. 6 : 5, 14) ; while the latter, mentioned in 
three other places only (Job 21 : 12 ; 30 : 31 ; p s . 150 : 
*), was but a mouth-organ or flute, probably 
nearly identical with Pan's pipe among the 
Greeks. 

22. An instructor of every artificer in 
brass and iron, better, the forger of every 
cutting instrument of brass, or (more correctly 
copper) and iron; including those for war, 
which Lamech may have used in the homicide 
he committed. 

23. 24. In these verses Lamech recites to his 
wives the fact that he had slain a young man in 
self-defense, and he comforts himself and them 
with the consideration of the far heavier pun- 
ishment any one would incur who should in 
revenge slay him, than would he who should 
slay Cain. 

This address is the earliest specimen of He- 
brew poetry that has come down to us. It con- 
sists of three distichs, with two parallel or cor- 
responding sentiments in each. Ignorance of 
this parallelism, which is a characteristic of He- 
brew poetry, has led some to conclude that the 
death of two persons, "a man" and "a young 
man," is mentioned. But such is not the case, 
the fourth line simply repeats, for the sake of 
emphasis, the thought of the third ; and the 
same is true of the first and second lines, the 
latter of which reechoes the sentiment, of the 
former. 

With these words the history of the Cainite 



Ch. V.] 



GENESIS 



77 



25 And Adam knew his wife again ; and she bare 
a son, and called his name Seth : For God, said she, 
hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, 
whom Cain slew. 

26 And to Seth, to him also there was born a son ; 
and he called his name Enos : then began men to 
call upon the name of the Lord. 



25 And Adam knew his wife again ; and she bare 
a son, and called his name Seth : For, said she, 
God hath appointed me another seed instead of 

26 Abel ; for Cain slew him. And to Seth, to him 
also there was born a son ; and he called his 
name Enos: then began men to call upon the 
name of the Lord. 



branch ends, and it is never resumed. It is 
brought down to Lamech, the seventh from 
Adam, probably to show its connection with 
the origin of the arts, and with the first in- 
stances of bigamy and homicide in self-defense. 
In respect of genealogies, the author of Genesis 
is wont to trace and dispose of divergent lines 
before proceeding with the main line which 
remains in communication with God, and around 
which the history chiefly revolves. Thus, the 
nations sprung from the three sons of Noah (io) 
are noticed before the line from Shem to Abram 
(u:io seq.); Nahor's descendants (22:20 seq.), 
those of Keturah (25 : 1 seq.), and of Ishmael (ver. 
12 seq.), before those of Isaac (ver. 19 seq.) ; those of 
Esau (36 : 1 seq.), before those of Jacob (»< : 2 seq.) ; 
and here, the race of Cain (* = H seq.) before that 

Of Seth (chap. 5). 

[Advocates of the documentary theory see 
indications in ver. 17-24 that its author did not 
know of a flood as did the writer of J. Ascrib- 
ing the invention of the arts of his own day to 
the Cainites, he could not have thought them 
all swept away and the arts preserved. So this 
section, from this and other supposed reasons, is 
attributed to a J x . But is it so improbable that 
Noah and his sons, even though they had not 
learned these arts previously, would have gained 
sufficient knowledge of them during the years 
while they were overseeing the building of the 
ark to have enabled them to carry them over 
into the post-diluvian age ?] 

25, 26. Worshipers of the True God. 
The writer now returns to the first human pair 
to notice the birth of Seth, in whose line the 
future history is to be continued. This bit of 
history was reserved for this place, as furnish- 
ing a contrast to what had just been related con- 
cerning the family of Cain, and as being a 
fitting introduction to the succeeding genealogy. 
Its insertion here " bears evidence of adaptation 
and careful thought, not the combination of 
separate compositions prepared with no refer- 
ence to each other " (Greene). 

25. Seth; meaning appointed or substituted ; 
that is, in place of Abel. The words, " for Cain 
slew him," are attributable to the narrator 
rather than to Eve. In this verse, for the first 
time in the original, the first man is called by 
the proper name Adam, without the article. 



26. Then began men, lit., it was begun, 
to call upon the name of the Lord. As 

in the expression " name of the Lord," name 
stands for thepersori and attributes of the Lord, 
so to call upon the name of the Lord is to call 
upon the Lord himself, either in the way of 
prayer for divine aid, or generally in acts of 

religious Worship (see Gen. 12 : 8 ; 13 : 4 ; 21 : 33 ; 26 : 
25 ; 1 Chron. 16 : 8 ; Ps. 79 : 6 ; 105 : 1 ; 116 ; 17 ; Joel 2 : 32 ) . 

In the worship thus ascribed to the descendants 
of Seth, they are distinguished from the Cain- 
ites, who were notoriously worldly. It is ob- 
servable that the narrator here uses the cove- 
nant name Jehovah, while in the preceding 
verse, Eve employs the name God — an example 
of a discriminating use of these names within 
the same alleged document. 



Chap. 5. The Genealogy from Adam to 

Noah (<*. 1 Chron. 1 : i-4). In this chapter the 
sacred writer furnishes a genealogical table of 
the ten patriarchs from Adam to Noah, thus 
connecting the first father of the race with the 
second, and spanning the period between the 
creation of man and the deluge. In the geneal- 
ogy of Christ (Luke 3 : 36-38) the same names are 
found, but in a reverse order. This table is 
unique in its construction, and bears upon its 
face the marks of authenticity. While, in the 
foregoing chapter, the genealogy of Cainites is 
given without dates or chronological marks, be- 
cause, as Keil has observed, there was no future 
for them, in this, the genealogy of the Sethites, 
through whom the line of promises ran and 
from whom the future people of God, and espe- 
cially the Messiah, were to be descended, the 
ages are recorded with great minuteness. [The 
great age said to have been attained by the 
early generations of men is thought by the 
newer criticism to prove the legendary nature 
of the records. The Hebrews but shared in a 
common tradition which has been traced in 
nearly all the ancient nations (see Rawlinson, 
Historical Illustrations, p. 14; cf. Jos., Ant. 
I., 3, 9). But these universal traditions are 
best explained as coming down from that remote 
time before the early races had branched out 
from their common stock. There must also 
have been a kernel of truth behind them to 
account for their origin. The account in these 



78 



GENESIS 



[Ch. V 



CHAPTER V. 



1 THIS is the book of the generations of Adam. 
In the day that God created man, in the likeness 
of God made he him ; 

2 Male and female created he them ; and blessed 
them, and called their name Adam, in the day 
when they were created. 

3 And Adam lived a hundred and thirty years, 
and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image ; 
and called his name Seth : 

4 And the days of Adam after he had begotten 
Seth were eight hundred years : and he begat sons 
and daughters : 

5 And all the days that Adam lived were nine 
hundred and thirty years : and he died. 

6 And Seth lived a hundred and five years, and 
begat Enos : 

7 And Seth lived after he begat Enos eight 
hundred and seven years, and begat sons and 
daughters : 

8 And all the days of Seth were nine hundred 
and twelve years : and he died. 

9 And Enos lived ninety years, and begat Cainan : 

10 And Enos lived after he begat Cainan eight 
hundred and fifteen years, and begat sons and 
daughters : 

11 And all the days of Enos were nine hundred 
and five years : and he died. 

12 And Cainan lived seventy years, and begat 
Mahalaleel : 

13 And Cainan lived after he begat Mahalaleel 
eight hundred and forty years, and begat sons and 
daughters : 

14 And all the days of Cainan were nine hundred 
and ten years : and he died. 

15 And Mahalaleel lived sixty and five years, and 
begat Jared : 



1 THIS is the book of the generations of Adam. 
In the day that God created man, in the like- 

2 ness of Gbd made he him ; male and female 
created he them ; and blessed them, and called 
their name Adam, in the day when they were 

3 created. And Adam lived "an hundred and 
thirty years, and begat a so?i in his own like- 
ness, after his image ; and called his name Seth : 

4 and the days of Adam after he begat Seth were 
eight hundred years: and he begat sons and 

5 daughters. And all the days that Adam lived 
were nine hundred and thirty years: and he 
died. 

6 And Seth lived an hundred and five years, and 

7 begat Enosh : and Seth lived after he begat 
Enosh eight hundred and seven years, and be- 

8 gat sons and daughters : and all the days of 
Seth were nine hundred and twelve years : and 
he died. 

9 And Enosh lived ninety years, and begat 

10 Kenan : and Enosh lived after he begat Kenan 
eight hundred and fifteen years, and begat sons 

11 and daughters: and all the days of Enosh were 
nine hundred and five years : and he died. 

12 And Kenan lived seventy years, and begat 

13 Mahalalel : and Kenan lived" after he begat 
Mahalalel eight hundred and forty years, and 

14 begat sons and daughters: and all* the days of 
Kenan were nine hundred and ten years : and 
he died. 

15 And Mahalalel lived sixty and five years, and 



chapters would furnish the ground for them we 
might expect. Accepting the direct creation of 
man as stated in chap. 1 and 2, it is but reason- 
able to believe he had originally a perfect phys- 
ical constitution which, in connection with the 
early simplicity of life, would long have re- 
sisted the progress of decay. 1 The various parts 
of the record in Genesis seem mutually explana- 
tory and self-consistent, and to afford the best 
basis for many world-wide traditions.] 

This chapter employs the name Elohim for 
the Divine Being in the first part (ver. i, borrowed 

from 1 : 26-28), and JellOVah (ver. 29, borrowed from 

3 . n) in the second part. It is therefore no 
more Elohistic than Jehovistic. For the pur- 
pose of making it entirely Elohistic, the critics 
are obliged to regard ver. 29 as an insertion by 
the redactor, or they attribute it to the alleged 
J document ; for doing which, however, the 
strongest reason they can give is that their 
hypothesis requires it. 

1. This is the book of the generations 
of Adam ; that is, the record of the descend- 
ants of Adam (see under 2:4). The present is the 
only one of the eleven sections of Genesis that 
inserts the word "book" in its heading, the 
others, with the exception of the first, uniformly 
employing the words: "These are the genera- 



tions." The statements of this chapter appear 
to have been drawn from an old genealogical 
register which the writer possibly had before 
him, and which, with the exception of the last 
verse, may have been composed before the 
deluge. The minuteness of the record affords a 
presumption that the art of writing was not 
unknown at this time. 

3. And begat a son in his own like- 
ness, after his image. Without the infor- 
mation contained in the previous chapter, it 
might be supposed that Seth was Adam's first 
son. Besides Cain and Abel, however, many 
other children may have been born to him be- 
fore he begat Seth. And many other children 
may have been born to others of the patriarchs 
before the birth of the son who is named because 
in the line of direct descent to Abram, for at 
this time, they had attained to a very advanced 
age. 

The words: "In his own likeness, after his 
image " must be understood in a moral and 
spiritual as well as physical sense. Adam did 
not transmit to Seth the divine image, pure and 
unsullied as he received it from God, but cor- 
rupted and marred by the sin into which he 
voluntarily fell. "Grace," says Henry, "doth 
not run in the blood, but corruption doth. A 



1 See Strack on Gen., in loco. 



Ch. V.] 



GENESIS 



79 



16 And Mahalaleel lived after he begat Jared 
eight hundred and thirty years, and begat sons and 
daughters : 

17 And all the days of Mahalaleel were eight 
hundred ninety and five years : and he died. 

18 And Jared lived a hundred sixty and two 
years, and he begat Enoch : 

19 And Jared lived after he begat Enoch eight 
hundred years, and begat sons and daughters : 

20 And all the days of Jared were nine hundred 
sixtv and two vears : and he died. 

21* And Enoch lived sixty and- Ave years, and 
begat Methuselah : 

22 And Enoch walked with God after he begat 
Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons 
and daughters : 

23 And all the days of Enoch were three hundred 
sixty and rive years : 

24 And Enoch walked with God : and he was 
not ; for God took him. 

25 And Methuselah lived a hundred eighty and 
seven years, and begat Larnech : 

26 And Methuselah lived after he begat Lamech 
seven hundred eighty and two years, and begat 
sons and daughters : 

27 And all the days of Methuselah were nine 
hundred sixty and nine years : and he died. 

28 And Lamech lived a hundred eighty and two 
years, and begat a son : 



16 begat Jared: and Mahalalel lived after he begat 
Jared eight hundred and thirty years, and begat 

17 sons and daughters : and all the days of Maha- 
lalel were eight hundred ninety and rive years: 
and he died. 

18 And Jared lived an hundred sixty and two 

19 years, and begat Enoch : and Jared lived after 
lie begat Enoch eight hundred years, and begat 

20 sons and daughters : and all the days of Jared 
were nine hundred sixty and two years : and he 
died. 

21 And Enoch lived sixty and five years, and 

22 begat Methuselah : and Enoch walked with God 
after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, 

23 and begat sons and daughters : and all the days 
of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five 

24 years : and Enoch walked with God : and he 
was not ; for God took him. 

25 And Methuselah lived an hundred eighty and 

26 seven years, and begat Lamech : and Methuselah 
lived after he begat Lamech seven hundred 
eighty and two years, and begat sons and 

27 daughters : and all the days of Methuselah 
were nine hundred sixty and nine yeare: and 
he died. 

28 And Lamech lived an hundred eighty and two 



sinner begets a sinner, but a saint doth not beget 
a saint." The transgression of Adam involved 
his posterity in its consequences (R°m. 5 : 12-21). 

24. And Enoch walked with God; 
language expressive of intimacy of fellowship 
and communion with God ; used also of Noah 
(6:9), and by Micah (6:8). The expression is 
stronger than walking before God (it : 1), or 
walking after God (Deut. 13 : 4), although these 
latter are significant of exalted piety. It is not 
meant that no others of the race were devout 
men, but that Enoch was such in a preemi- 
nent sense. Yet his piety was not altogether 
of the devout and contemplative kind ; from 
Jude 14 : 15 it appears to have been active and 
aggressive against the evils of his time as well. 1 
He was not; was missing; had disappeared. 
The language, always expressive of sudden and 
mysterious removal or disappearance (cf. 42 : 13, 

36; 1 Kiugs 20 : 40 ; : Job 7 : 8 ; Ps. 103 : 16; Isa. 17 : 14) ; 

implies something very peculiar in the manner 
of Enoch's removal from earth. It does not de- 
clare in so many words that he did not die, but 
this is plainly its meaning, as appears from 
Heb. 11:5: "He was translated that he should 
not see death." 

For God took him ; that is, without dying ; 
otherwise his history would have ended like 
that of the other patriarchs with the words : 
and he died. 



Two ends were specially answered by Enoch's 
translation : 1. God hereby signified his ap- 
proval of the doctrines which he had proclaimed 
and thus also publicly rewarded him for his 
fidelity. 2. The event was designed and calcu- 
lated to impress upon a thoughtless world the 
doctrine of immortality — to remind these wicked 
antediluvians that there is another world, in 
which the righteous are advanced to endless joy 
and glory. Each of these three distinguishing 
periods of the world has furnished an instance 
of the translation to heaven of one in his em- 
bodied state, namely, Enoch in the patriarchal 
dispensation, Elijah in the Mosaic, and Christ 
in the Christian. Enoch and Elijah, however, 
did not die, but were only changed — as the 
saints will be changed who shall be alive at the 
last day (1 Thess. 4 : 15; i Cor. is : 51) ; Christ died 
and was buried, and passed to glory from the 
grave — " the firstfruits of them that are asleep " 

(l Cor. 15 : 20). 

27. All the days of Methuselah, etc. 
The shortest of these patriarchial lives was 
followed by the longest. 

28. And Lamech . . . begat a son. 

Lamech, the father of Noah, of the Sethite line, 
must be distinguished from Lamech, of the 
Cainite line ( 4 : 18 ). He is said to have been 
born two or three hundred years after, and was 
a very different person. The latter was a 



1 "The book of Enoch, compiled probably by a Jew in the days of Herod the Great, describes the 
patriarch as exhorting his son Methuselah and all his contemporaries to reform their evil ways ; as pene- 
trating with his prophetic eye into the remote future, and exploring all mysteries in earth and heaven ; 
as passing a retired life after the birth of his son in intercourse with the angels and in meditation on 
divine matters ; and as at length being translated to heaven in order to reappear in the time of the 
Messiah, leaving behind him a number of writings on religion and morality " (Whitelaw ) . 



80 



GENESIS 



[Ch. VI. 



29 And lie called his name Noah, saying, This 
same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil 
of our hands, because of the ground which the 
Lord hath cursed. 

30 And Lamech lived after he begat Noah five 
hundred ninety and five years, and begat sons and 
daughters : 

31 And all the days of Lamech were seven hun- 
dred seventy and seven years : and he died. 

32 And Noah was five hundred years old : and 
Noah begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth. 



29 years, and begat a son : and he called his name 
Noah, saying, This same shall comfort us for our 
work and for the toil of our hands, because of 

30 the ground which the Lord hath cursed. And 
Lamech lived after he begat Noah five hundred 
ninety and five years, and begat sons and daugh- 

31 ters: and all the days of Lamech were seven 
hundred seventy and seven years : and he died. 

32 And Noah was five hundred years old : and 
Noah begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth. 



CHAPTER VI 



1 AND it came to pass, when men began to mul- 
tiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were 
born unto them, 



1 AND it came to pass, when men began to mul- 
tiply on the face of the ground, and daughters 



polygamist and a homicide, and the father of 
those who revel in secular art and in worldly 
affluence and luxury ; the former was father of 
the "preacher of righteousness," and eminently 

pioUS (ver. 29). 

29. And he called his name Noah, say- 
ing, This same shall comfort us. The 

explanation here given for Noah's name is not 
strictly etymological, as the Hebrew word which 
signifies (in Piel) to comfort, Dnj, nacham, has 
a different stem from the Hebrew word meaning 
to rest, niJ, nuach. It was alliteration rather 
than an identity of origin which led the narrator 
to connect in thought words similar in sound ; 
though in this case the similarity reaches also 
to the thought, for rest is comfort and a cause 

Of Comfort (isa. bl : 1 ; Job 8 : 13). 

These words of Lamech, like those of the 
Cainite Lamech, are poetic in form, but breathe 
an entirely different sentiment. The Cainite 
Lamech sang apologetically of himself and of 
his sin ; this Lamech, on the contrary, is grate- 
ful to God for a son with whom would be intro- 
duced an era of relief from the bitter toils to 
which, on account of sin, the race had been sub- 
jected. These toils were increased by a lack of 
the agricultural skill w T hich is now possessed, 
and of those implements of husbandry which 
now save and mitigate labor. In the spirit of 
prophecy Lamech seems to "foretell the use- 
fulness of Noah, who much improved agricul- 
ture, planted vineyards, and produced wine 
which strengthens man's heart (9 = 20). 

32. And Noah was five hundred years 
old. Up to this point in this table only one son 
is named in each family ; here three, since they 
were to become ancestors of important nations 
and play a notable part in the history which 

follows (chap. 10). 

Japheth was probably the oldest and Ham 
the youngest of Noah's sons. According to 
11 : 10, Shem was a hundred years old two years 
after the flood, and was born consequently 
ninety-seven years before it, and in the five 



hundred and third year of Noah's age. If Ham 
was the youngest son (9 : 24), it must have been 
Japheth who was born when Noah was five 
hundred years old, and he was therefore the 
eldest of the three. This agrees with 10 : 21 as 
rendered by the Septuagint, which favors "the 
brother of Japheth, the elder," rather than 
" the elder brother of Japheth." Some under- 
stand the latter rendering to mean that Shem 
was the elder of Japheth's brothers, that is, 
older than Ham, though younger than Japheth. 



Chap. 6. 1-8. Antediluvian Wicked- 
ness. This paragraph is intimately connected 
with the genealogy in chap. 5 which goes be- 
fore, and with the account of the flood which 
follows. The genealogy of chap. 5 proceeds by 
regular steps from Adam to Noah, at which 
point, instead of breaking off and closing, "it 
is simply enlarged by the insertion of the narra- 
tive of the deluge, which is incorporated within 
it. After this the divergent lines of descent are 
introduced (chap. 10) f and then the main gene- 
alogy is resumed, and proceeds (11 = 10-26) until 
it reaches the name of Abram when it pauises, or 
rather, is enlarged again, to receive the history 
of the patriarchs." Ver. 1-4 indicate the sources 
of corruption which universally prevailed and 
formed the moral cause of the flood, and thus 
prepare the way for the announcement (ver. 5-8) 
of Jehovah's purpose to destroy. 

In the section beginning with this paragraph 
(6 : 1 to 9 : 29) both God and Jehovah are used as 
the name of the Divine Being, and they are so 
blended in one continuous and consistent narra- 
tive as to leave no ground for the supposition of 
the use by the author of two documents of 
diverse character. See Greene's Unity of the 
Book of Genesis, pp. 65-130. 

1. When men began to multiply. 
[Driver and others argue that this expression 
" men began to multiply " is inconsistent with 
the enlargement of the race outlined in the 
previous chapter, and must belong to another 



Ch. VI.] 



GENESIS 



81 



2 That the sons of God saw the daughters of men 
that they were fair ; and they took them wives of 
all which they chose. 

3 And the Lord said, My Spirit shall not always 



2 were born unto them, that the sons of God saw 
the daughters of men that they were fair ; and 
they took them wives of all that they chose. 

3 And the Lord said, My spirit shall not strive 



document. But the author evidently is stating 
what had been taking place since men began to 
multiply as recorded in chap. 5, in order to ex- 
plain the great wickedness which led to the 
flood which was at hand. They also hold that 
because the Nephilim are mentioned here and 
also in Num. 13 : 33, the author of 6 : 1-4 could 
not have known of the flood. But does it follow 
because giants are mentioned both before and 
after the flood that the latter must have sprung 
from the former? In any case, the author of 
this passage, the critics being judges, may not 
have known of the post-diluvian giants, and 
may have thought they all perished in the flood. 
Besides, ver. 3 seems to refer to the limit of the 
life of the antediluvian world by the flood, and 
not to a new average age for men.] 

2. The sons of God. The meanings which 
have been given to this designation are chiefly 
three. 1. Men of high rank or official station — 
a rabbinic opinion unsupported by the usage of 
language, out of harmony with the context, and 
now generally rejected. 2. Angels — a purely 
mythological conceit, set forth in the book of 
Enoch, entertained by Philo and Josephus, and 
favored by many modern critics and commen- 
tators. But " there is no analogy anywhere in 
the Bible for the adoption by the sacred writers 
of mythological notions in general, or for the 
idea in particular of the intermarriage of angels 
and men." True, the angels are thus designated 
in Job 1 : 6 ; 2 : 1 ; 38 : 7 ; comp. Ps. 29 : 1 ; 89 : 
6 ; but that they are not here referred to is evi- 
dent from the following considerations: (1) If 
angels are meant, they must have been either 
good angels or bad. If good, they would not 
have been guilty of the sin here named ; if bad, 
they would not have been called " sons of God." 
Though Satan is represented as coming among 
"the sons of God," he is not regarded as one of 
their number. (2) The angels were not created 
as a race, have no distinction of sex, and are 
incapable of sexual relations. Our Lord de- 
clares that "they neither marry nor are given 
in marriage " (Matt. 22 : 30 ; Luke 20 : 36). (3) The 
expression "took them wives" in the next 
clause, is used throughout the Old Testament of 
the marriage relation (4 : 19 ; 10 : 11, 19 ; 19 : u ; 
Exod. 6 : 26; i Sam. 25 : 43), and never of unlawful 
intercourse. Our Lord also mentions as one 
characteristic of the age before the flood that 
" they married and were given in marriage " 
F 



(Luke n : 26, 27). 3. That interpretation must, 
therefore, be adopted which regards "the sons 
of God" as the pious Sethites, among whom 
was preserved the worship of the true God (4 : 26) 
and who walked with God in their daily con- 
versation. They are thus styled as being like 
God in a moral sense, and in contrast with the 
descendants of Cain, who were notoriously sen- 
sual and worldly. The title accords with that 
subsequently given to God's chosen people, his 

true followers (Deut. 14 : 1 ; Ps. 73 : 15 ; Prov. 14 : 26 ; 
Hosea 1 : 10 ; 11 : 1 ; comp. Exod. 4 : 22 ; Deut. 32 : 5, 18, 19 ; 
Isa. 1:2; 43 : 6 ; 45 : 11 ; Jer. 31 : 20). It is also ap- 
plied to the godly under the Christian dispen- 
sation (John 1 : 12 ; 1 John 3:1; Rom. 8 : 14 ; 9 : 7, 8 ; 
Luke 3 : 38 ; Gal. 3 : 26) . 

The daughters of men ; that is, those 
estranged from the knowledge and worship of 
the true God, and not women generally. The 
expression places those whom it designates in 
contrast with " the sons of God." In such con- 
trasts universal terms in Scripture are frequently 
restricted by their context. For example, it is 
said of the wicked in Ps. 73 : 5 : " They are not 
in trouble as men, neither are they plagued as 
men," the true sense of which is brought out by 
inserting "other," as in the English version, 
which reads "other men." (Comp. jer. 32:20; 

Judg. 16 : 17.) 

They took them wives of all that they 
chose ; of all, without regard to moral and 
spiritual character. The language may mean 
that they did not restrict themselves to the 
limitation of one woman to one man. As a 
consequence, the line which separated between 
Sethites and Cainites, or between the pious and 
the impious, was obliterated ; and the race as a 
whole became more and more degenerate and 
corrupt. Similar results followed the intermar- 
riages of the Israelites with the heathen (Judg. 

3 : 6, 7 ; 1 Kings 16 : 31-33 ; Ezra 9 : I, 2). Moses pro- 
hibited these marriages (Deut. 7 : 3, 4), and Paul 
warned the Corinthians against them (2 Cor. 6 : 

14 ; 1 Cor. 7 : 39 ; comp. 24 : 3, 4 ; 27 : 46 ; 28 : 1, 2). 

3. My Spirit— not the spirit of life, the vital 
breath, with which man was originally ani- 
mated, but the Holy Spirit, the Ruach Elohim 
of 1 : 2. 

Shall not always strive with man, i. e., 
forever. The Septuagint, Vulgate, and Syriac 
versions translate " shall not dwell " ; Gesenius 
and Tuch, "shall not be humbled"; and 



82 



GENESIS 



[Ch. VI. 



strive with man, for that he also is flesh : yet his 
days shall be a hundred and twenty years. 

4 There were giants in the earth in those days ; 
and also after that, when the sons of God came in 
unto the daughters of men, and they bare children 
to them, the same became mighty men which were 
of old, men of renown. 



with man for ever, for that he also is flesh : yet 
shall his days be an hundred and twenty vears. 
The Nephilim were in the earth in those'daysi 
and also after that, when the sons of God came 
in unto the daughters of men, and they bare 
children to them : the same were the mightv 
men which were of old, the men of renown. 



Delitzsch, Kalisch, and others, "shall not 
rule." Preferable, however, to either of these 
renderings is that of the Authorized version, 
"shall not strive." The verb jlT, yadhon, 
signifies literally to judge, or to contend in 
judgment, as in Eccl. 6 : 10. The Holy Spirit 
thus strove with the antediluvians — thus judged 
and condemned their sinful conduct by working 
upon their conscience, and by the preaching of 

Enoch, Noah, and Others (Jude 14; 2 Peter 2: 5; 

comp. 1 Peter 3 : 18-20 ; Neh. 9 : 30 ; Isa. 63 : 10). This 

interpretation is confirmed by Heb. 11 : 7, which 
declares that Noah, by his faith and obedience, 
which strongly contrasted with the unbelief and 
disobedience of the men of his day, " condemned 
the world." 

For that he also is flesh. The meaning 
of these words is disputed. Two principal 
renderings of the original Hebrew have been 
proposed, namely, that of the text and the fol- 
lowing : In their erring, he is flesh. The latest 
authorities favor the latter. The principal ob- 
jection that has been raised against it is the fact 
that the plural suffix D, am, their, is immediately 
followed by the singular pronoun $On, hu, he. 
But the language furnishes similar instances of 
exchange in number, as shown by Ewald 
(Grammar, $319a), who renders: On account of 
their erring he (mankind) is flesh. The best 
rendering of the verse is, perhaps, that which 
separates the last of the clause from the first, 
and deals with each as an independent state- 
ment, thus : My spirit shall not always strive 
with man in their erring. He is flesh ; yet his 
days shall be a hundred and twenty years. 
Man's going more and more astray would justify 
an immediate infliction of punishment. This 
further respite, however, should be granted 
him, after which, if no repentance and reforma- 
tion followed, the whole race would be swept 
away. 

Some explain the last clause of the verse as 
meaning that henceforth human life should be 
limited to a hundred and twenty years ; but this 
conclusion is set aside by the fact that all the 



post-diluvian patriarchs from Shem to Terah 
reached a far higher age. (Comp. n : 11-26.) There 
is no indication that it was ever fixed at this 
limit. 

Some have taken the one hundred and twenty 
years for the interval of time "while the ark 
was preparing" (1 Peter 3 : 20) ; but very erro- 
neously. As the sons of Noah were a hundred 
years old at the time of the flood (ver. 32 ; t : n) f 
and they were already grown to manhood when 
the direction for building the ark was given to 
Noah (ver. 13-is), the time the ark was building 
could not have been even a hundred years, and 
may have been less than fifty. 

4. There were giants in the earth in 
those days, or better, the Nephilim 1 were. 
These Nephilim must not be confounded with 
"mighty men" spoken of in the last part of 
the verse. They were not the same. The for- 
mer, descendants of Cain were already " in the 
earth" when the latter, the progeny of the 
mixed marriages, were born. The Septuagint 
renders the word by gigantes (giants), which 
rendering has been adopted by the Yulgate, 
Syriac, Samaritan, and Authorized versions, 
though without any warrant from the etymology 
of the word. There is nothing in the derivation 
of the word going to show that the Nephilim 
were men of lofty stature. The Septuagint uses 
the same word (gigas) to translate 10 : 8, where 
strength rather than height is meant, though 
the two qualities are generally combined. The 
use of the word in Num. 13 : 33 to designate one 
of the Canaanitish tribes, who appear to have 
been men of large stature, as were the Eephaim, 
the Anakim, and others (Deut. 2:10, 20 ; 3 : 11 ; 
Amos 2 : 9) } may have been the reason why it 
came to be rendered giants. The Nephilim, 
while probably men of extraordinary size and 
physical strength, appear to have been chiefly 
distinguished for deeds of violence, and "the 
men of violence " is perhaps as good a rendering 
of the word as could be devised. The prefixed 
article serves to point them out as a well-known 
and dreaded class. 



1 Considerable obscurity rests upon the derivation of this word. It has possibly a Canaanitish origin. 
The majority of commentators derive it from the Hebrew ?3J, naphal, to fall, under which derivation 
the Nephilim must be taken, not as the fallen from heaven, either as angels or the offspring of fallen 
angels and the daughters of men, but as fallers upon their fellow-men in acts of violence ; usurpers, 
tyrants, oppressors (comp. Josh. 31 : 7 ; Job 1 : 15 ; Gen. 43 : 18). 



Ch. VI.] 



GENESIS 



83 



5 And God saw that the wickedness of man ivas 
great in the earth, and that every imagination of 
the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 

6 And it repented the Lord that he had made 
man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. 

7 And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I 
have created from the face of the earth ; both man, 
and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of 
the air ; for it repenteth me that I have made them. 

8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. 

9 These are the generations of Noah : Noah was 
a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah 
walked with God. 



5 And the Lord saw that the wickedness of man 
was great in the earth, and that every imagina- 
tion of the thoughts of his heart was only evil 

6 continually. And it repented the Lord that he 
had made man on the earth, and it grieved him 

7 at his heart. And the Lord said, I will destroy 
man whom I have created from the face of the 
ground ; both man, and beast, and creeping 
thing, and fowl of the air ; for it repenteth me 

8 that I have made them. But Noah found grace 
in the eyes of the Lord. 

9 These are the generations of Noah. Noah 
was a righteous man, and perfect in his genera- 



te men of renown ; lit., men of the name. 
Calvin styles them "the first nobility of the 
world, honorable robbers, who boasted of their 
wickedness." 

5. Every imagination (lit., formation) of 
the thoughts of his heart was only evil 
continually; a portraiture of enormous and 
universal corruption and wickedness. There 
was nothing but evil ; and that not temporarily, 
but always ; not in the case of a few, but of all, 
with only one solitary exception. 

6. And it repented the Lord. No inter- 
pretation of these words is permissible that does 
not consist with the fact that God is unchange- 
able (Mai. 3:6; James i : 17), and cannot repent 

(Num. 23 : 19 ; 1 Sam. 15 : 29). God's repenting must 

not, therefore, be understood as indicating any 
change in God's essential character. It is rather 
an expression of man's way of viewing the 
matter — an anthropopathic expression of the 
change of God's attitude toward man in view of 
man's previous change of conduct toward God 
(p s . is : 26; i Sam. is : n). Men change their ac- 
tion only when they repent of their past course, 
similarly, God is said to repent when his atti- 
tude is reversed. "Repentance with man," 
says an old divine, " is the changing of the will; 
repentance with God the xoilling of a change." 
And it grieved him at his heart. Lan- 
guage expressive of the pain and disappoint- 
ment of divine love over the sin of man. 

7. I will destroy (lit., wipe off) man. 
The verb, in its primary sense (as in Prov. 30 : 20 ; 
isa. 25 : 8 ; 2 Kings 21 : 13), which should be retained 
here and in 7 : 4, 23 in distinction from the verb 
"destroy" in ver. 13, 17, is significant of the 
method by which the threatened destruction 
was to be brought about. The flood was a 
literal wiping of the race, with the exception 
of Noah and his family, from the face of the 
earth. Both man and heast. The inferior 
animals, by reason of their peculiar relation to 
man, for whom they were created, became in- 
volved in the ruin which befell him. It is a law 
running through the whole course of nature, 
and a principle of the divine government, that 



the consequences of moral evil are allowed to 
extend beyond the immediate actor, not only to 
the rational and irrational, but also even to the 
inanimate creation (Rom. 8 : 20 ; comp. jer. 12: 4; 
Hosea4:3: zeph. i : 3). Witness the destruction 
of Achan's family (Josh. 7 : 24, 25), the cursing of 
the serpent ( 3:U ), the cursing of the ground 
(3 : 17), the cursing of the fig tree (Mark 11 : 21)— 
all the result, directly or indirectly, of man's sin. 

8. But Noah found grace. The word 
" grace " (jn, chen), in the sense of God's un- 
merited favor, occurs here for the first time. 
Hitherto there have been indirect intimations 
of that favor in the promise concerning the seed 
of the woman (3 : 15), in the clothing of Adam 
and Eve with coats of skins (3 : 21), in the ac- 
cepted offering of Abel ( 4 : 5 ), in the translation 
of Enoch (5 = 22), and in the striving of the 
Spirit with antediluvian man (7 : 3) ; but now 
there is a disclosure of the very fountain whence 
it flows — the heart of the Eternal. 

9-22. The Building op the Aek. 9. 
These are the generations (that is, the 
history or family history) of Noah. See under 
2:4. 

Noah was a just {righteous) man. Noah 
is the first man who is called righteous in the 
Scriptures. In Ezek. 14 : 14, 20, he is named 
with Daniel and Job as thus distinguished, and 
Peter (2 Peter 2 : 5) calls him "a preacher of 
righteousness." He was righteous by virtue of 
the moral relation to God into which he was 
brought by his faith. Thus the writer to the 
Hebrews refers his righteousness to faith as its 
cause (11 : 7). So it is recorded of Abraham 
that "he believed in the Lord ; and he counted 

it to him righteousness" (15 : 6; comp. Gal. 3:6). 

His righteousness evinced itself in his walk be- 
fore men; for he was perfect (that is, sincere, 
upright) in his generations (that is, among 
his contemporaries). The ancient Hebrews 
reckoned by the generation, to which they 
assigned different lengths at different periods 
of their history. In Abraham's time it appears 
to have been a hundred years. Thus 15 : 16 : 
"In the fourth generation they shall come 



84 



GENESIS 



[Ch. VI. 



10 And Noah begat three sons, Shein, Ham, and 
Japheth. 

11 The earth also was corrupt before God ; and 
the earth was filled with violence. 

12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, 
it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way 
upon the earth. 

13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh 
is come before me ; for the earth is filled with 
violence through them ; and, behold, I will destroy 
them with the earth. 

14 Make thee an ark of gopher wood ; rooms 
shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it 
within and without with pitch. 

15 And this is the fashion which thou shalt make 
it of: The length of the ark shall be three hundred 
cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height 
of it thirty cubits. 

16 A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in 
a cubit shalt thou finish it above ; and the door of 
the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with 
lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it. 



10 tions : Noah walked with God. And Noah begat 

11 three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. And the 
earth was corrupt before God, and the earth was 

12 filled with violence. And God saw the earth, 
and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had 
corrupted his way upon the earth. 

13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh 
is come before me ; for the earth is filled with 
violence through them; and, behold, I will de- 

14 stroy them with the earth. Make thee an ark of 
gopher wood ; rooms shalt thou make in the 
ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with 

15 pitch. And this is how thou shalt make it : the 
length of the ark three hundred cubits, the 
breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it 

16 thirty cubits. A light shalt thou make to the 
ark, and to a cubit shalt thou finish it upward ; 
and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side 
thereof; with lower, second, and third stories 



hither," is explained in ver. 13 and in Exod. 
12 : 40 to be four hundred years. Noah's piety 
was the more remarkable by contrast with the 
wickedness of his contemporaries. 

Noah walked with God. Spoken also of 
Enoch. See under 5 : 24. 

14. Make thee an ark. The original word 
for ark, 713$, tebhah, used only in chap. 6-9, 
and in Exod. 2:3, 5, where it designates the 
ark in which the infant Moses was exposed. 
Another word, jl"^, 'aron, is employed for the 
"ark of the covenant" (Exod. 25:io). In the 
Septuagint the same term, k<-P<*t6<; } signifying 
a hollow chest, is applied to both. The word 
P"l& ('aron) probably denotes any kind of chest 
or coffer; the word H^ri, tebhah (of Egyptian 
origin) means such chests or coffers as were 
intended to float on the water. Noah's ark 
was not a ship with a keel, but a huge flat- 
bottomed structure, in the shape of an oblong 
square or box, without mast, rudder, or sails, 
built with a view to capacity rather than sailing 
quality. 

Of gopher wood. The word gopher, which 
occurs only in this place, denotes a resinous tree, 
most probably the cypress, which was very 
abundant in Assyria. On account of its dura- 
bility and power of resisting moisture, it was 
almost exclusively used throughout Asia for 
shipbuilding, among the Egyptians for mum- 
my-cases, and among the Athenians for coffins. 

Rooms, lit., nests (Num. 24 : 21), shalt thou 
make ; the allusion being, doubtless, to the nu- 
merous compartments, cells, or stalls into which 
the interior of the ark was divided for the an- 
imals and stores it housed. 

With pitch, lit., with the pitch. The use of 
the article shows it to have been a well-known 
substance, probably the same as asphaltum, 
which was used among the ancients for cover- 



ing boats (Exod. 2:3), and as a substitute for mor- 
tar in buildings (n = 3). It means, also, price 
of expiation or redemption (Exod. 21 : 30 ; so : 12 ; 
Job 33 •. 24) f from Kaphar (to cover), the idea of 
expiation or atonement being that of covering 

Sin (Ps. 65 : 3 ; 78 : 38). 

15. The length of the ark. There is 
some doubt as to whether the common cubit of 
eighteen inches, or the sacred cubit of twenty- 
one inches, is here alluded to. If the latter, 
which is most probable (it was the cubit of the 
Egyptians which the Hebrews would be likely 
to adopt), the length of the ark would be five 
hundred and twenty-five feet, its breadth eighty- 
seven and one-half feet, and its height fifty-two 
and one-half feet. 

16. A window (light) shalt thou make to 
the ark. The light arrangement of the ark 
can be only conjecturally defined. As the word 
here rendered light, ^n'¥, tsohar, occurs only 
in this place, its meaning cannot be precisely 
fixed. By confounding it with pvn, challon, 
"window," in 8:6, some modern critics 
have supposed the ark to have been furnished 
with light and air by one small window only. 
Gesenius' idea is probably the correct one, that 
in '¥, tsohar, stands collectively for a set of win- 
dows, or system of lighting, which may have 
been constructed in some way in the roof of the 
ark or along the top of its sides, and of some 
translucent substance, which, though now un- 
known, may have been known to the ante- 
diluvians (± : 21, 22). Symmachus translated 
the word "a transparency." The Targurn of 
Jonathan represents God as saying to Noah : 
" Go thou to the Pison, and take thence a pre- 
cious stone, and place it in the ark for the dis- 
pensation of light." 

In (to) a cubit shalt thou finish (the ark 
— not the window) upward. The reference is 



Ch. VII.] 



GENESIS 



85 



17 And, behold, I, even T, do bring a flood of 
waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein 
is the breath of life, from under heaven ; and every 
thing that is in the earth shall die. 

18 But with thee will I establish my covenant ; 
and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy 
sous, and thy wife, and thy sons' wives with thee. 

19 And of every living thing of all flesh, two of 
every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep 
them alive with thee; they shall be male and 
female. 

20 Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after 
their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth 
after his kind ; two of every sort shall come unto 
thee, to keep them alive. 

2L And take thou unto thee of all food that is 
eaten, and thou shalt gather it to thee ; and it shall 
be for food for thee, and for them. 

22 Thus did Noah ; according to all that God 
commanded him, so did he. 



17 shalt thou make it. And I, behold, I do bring 
the flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy 
all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from 
under heaven ; every thing that is in the earth 

18 shall die. But I will establish my covenant 
with thee ; and thou shalt come into the ark, 
thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons' 

19 wives with thee. And of every living thing of 
all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into 
the ark, to keep them alive with thee ; they 

20 shall be male and female. Of the fowl after 
their kind, and of the cattle after their kind, of 
every creeping thing of the ground after its 
kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee, to 

21 keep them alive. And take thou unto thee of all 
food that is eaten, and gather it to thee ; and it 

22 shall be for food for thee, and for them. Thus 
did Noah ; according to all that God commanded 
him, so did he. 



probably to the roof of the ark, which was to 
be raised a cubit in the middle, and made slo- 
ping to carry off the rain. 

17. And, behold, I, even I, do bring 

(better — am bringing, that is, about to bring) a 
{the) flood of waters. The repetition of the 
pronoun makes prominent the thought of the 
immediate agency of omnipotence. The term 
here used for flood is limited in its application 
to the general deluge, as if to intimate that the 
judgment was to be unique in its character. 
It occurs only in this narrative and in Ps. 29 : 
10: "The Lord sat as king at the flood," that 
is, to judge and destroy the world. 

18. But with thee will I establish my 
covenant. The term here rendered covenant, 
n , 'l3, berith, from H}3, bara, to cut, because 
it was customary for the covenanting parties 
to pass between the divided parts of victims 
(see 15 : io), signifies ordinarily a mutual con- 
tract between two parties, ' ' comprehending a 
promise made by the one to the other, accom- 
panied with a condition, upon the performance 
of which the accepter becomes entitled to the 
fulfilment of the promise." In the present in- 
stance there is a promise or assurance on God's 
part to protect Noah and his family, coupled 
with the condition of faith and obedience on 
Noah's part (Heb. n : i). This verse contains 
the first mention in Scripture of a covenant. 

19. Two of every sort shalt thou bring 
into the ark. Noah's power over the beasts 
to bring them into the ark may be explained 
in part on natural principles. The wildest 
animals, in the presence of an impending catas- 
trophe, have been known to become compara- 
tively tame and tractable. Still, this explana- 
tion does not go far enough. From the words 
which follow: "Two of every sort shall come 
unto thee," it is implied that they came by an 
impulse from God. 

[The advanced critics see in 6 : 19 and 7 : 2 



discrepant statements, which help to prove their 
contention that two documents are combined 
in the account of the flood. In 6 : 19 two of 
every species are to enter the ark ; in 7 : 2 the 
clean animals are to go in by sevens, and only 
the unclean by twos. But in 7 : 9 every species 
is again said to go in by twos, and this verse is 
in the body of what is assigned to J, as is 7 : 2. 
The discrepancy, then, is between two state- 
ments in the same document, as well as in those 
distributed between two. To meet this diffi- 
culty, the words, " there went in two and two," 
are said to have been inserted by a redactor, 
who, thus, deliberately or stupidly, made the 
statements of the J document conflict with one 
another, as well as with P 6 : 19. Is not this 
more difficult to believe than the conservative 
explanation that the single author of the ac- 
count of the flood makes the general statement 
that every species of animals went into the ark 
in twos, and also the more particular explana- 
tion that in case of clean animals, they went in 
by sevens?] 

22. According to all that God com- 
manded him, so did he. This declaration, 
repeated in 7 : 5, attests the fidelity with which 
Noah, in preparing the ark, carried out the 
directions he had received. Though during the 
one hundred and twenty years' respite there was 
no symptom of the coming judgment, and though 
in all these years he was, doubtless, an object of 
general derision, yet he believed and acted upon 
the divine command. The Scriptures furnish 
no instance of a sublimer faith and obedience. 



Chap. 7. 1=24. Entrance Into the 
Ark. The respite of one hundred and twenty 
years, during which ' ' the longsuffering of God 
waited," was now up — only seven days re- 
mained ; the ark was finished and stored with 
the necessary provisions ; and Noah, in the 
spirit of implicit faith, which influenced his 



86 



GENESIS 



[Ch. VII. 



CHAPT 

1 AND the Lord said unto Noah, Come thou and 
all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen 
righteous before me in this generation. 

2 Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by 
sevens, the male and his female : and of beasts that 
are not clean by two, the male and his female. 

3 Of fowls also of the air by sevens, the male and 
the female ; to keep seed alive upon the face of all 
the earth. 

4 For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain 
upon the earth forty days and forty nights ; and 
every living substance that I have made will I de- 
stroy from off the face of the earth. 

5 And Noah did according unto all that the Lord 
commanded him. 

6 And Noah ivas six hundred years old when the 
flood of waters was upon the earth. 



ER VII. 

1 AND the Lord said unto Noah, Come thou and 
all thy house into the ark ; for thee have I seen 

2 righteous before me in this generation. Of every 
clean beast thou shalt take to thee seven and 
seven, the male and his female ; and of the 
beasts that are not clean two, the male and his 

3 female ; of the fowl also of the air, seven and 
seven, male and female : to keep seed alive upon 

4 the face of all the earth. For yet seven days, 
and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty 
days and forty nights ; and every living thing 
that I have made will I destroy from off the face 

5 of the ground. And Noah did according unto 
all that the Lord commanded him. 

6 And Noah was six hundred years old when the 



whole conduct, waits for further instructions, 
which are forthwith given. 

1. Come thou and all thy house into 
the ark. "The call is like that of a tender 
father to his children to come indoors when he 
sees a storm coming. God did not bid him go 
into the ark, but come into it, implying that he 
would go with him, and in due time bring him 
safe out of it." Noah's family were saved with 
him in the ark, not as being equally right- 
eous — there is no testimony to that effect, though 
they doubtless profited from his example and 
exhortations. Both temporal and spiritual ad- 
vantages often come, and should ever come, 
from connection with the good. The Lord was 
propitious to Noah's family for his sake. 

Thee have I seen righteous before me 
in this generation. Noah's piety, which 
satisfied the divine scrutiny, placed him in 
marked contrast with his entire generation, 
which the Saviour thus describes : " They were 
eating and drinking, marrying and giving in 
marriage, until the day that Noah entered the 
ark, and they knew not until the flood came, 
and took them all away " (Matt. 24 : 38, S9). 

2. Of every clean beast thou shalt 
take to thee by sevens (seven and seven) 
the male and his female. Critics are not 
agreed as to the meaning of these words — 
whether there were to be seven clean beasts, 
that is, three pairs and one odd one, or seven 
pairs. The expression seven seven in the text 
unquestionably favors the latter, for distribu- 
tive numbers are according to the usage of the 
language expressed by a repetition of the car- 
dinals (Ges. §120, 5; Ewald §313, a; comp. Gen. 7:9; 

Num. 3:47: zech. 4:2). There is no inconsist- 
ency between this verse and 6:20 — "two of 
every sort." The second injunction is but an 
amplification of the first, which was given one 
hundred and twenty years before, when par- 
ticular instructions were not required. The 
earlier communication simply directed that the 



animals should be preserved by pairs ; the later, 
that in respect of the few clean animals used 
for sacrifice, not one pair, but seven pairs 
should be preserved. 

The terms "clean" and "unclean" as ap- 
plied to these animals have respect to their fit- 
ness or unfitness for sacrifice, which distinction 
was probably first made when sacrifices were 
instituted by God, but was afterward, like cir- 
cumcision and other patriarchal ordinances, 
expressly enjoined by him under the law (see 
Lev. i : 2, io, 14 ; comp. Gen. 15 : 9). Animals regarded 
as " clean " for sacrifice were less numerous than 
those mentioned as " clean " for food (Lev. n : 3, 
13, si), for many of the latter were not clean for 
sacrifice. 

4. Yet seven days. These seven days 
would enable Noah to complete his preparations 
and afford the world a space still — a sufficient 
space, if only improved — for repentance. Noah 
probably warned and exhorted the people up to 
the last moment. 

Forty days and forty nights. As the 
numeral seven became remarkable from the 
seventh day on which God rested from his crea- 
tive work, so the numeral forty from the period 
during which the rain descended upon the earth. 
Thus we read that Moses was forty days and forty 
nights in the mount (Exod. 24 : is) ; that Israel 
wandered forty years in the wilderness (Num. u : 
33) ; that the scouts were forty days spying out 
the land of Canaan (Num. 13 : 25) ; that Elijah 
fasted forty days and forty nights in the wilder- 
ness of Beersheba (1 Kings 19 : 8) ; that a respite of 
forty days was given to the Ninevites (Jonah 3:4); 
that Christ fasted forty days and forty nights 
before the temptation (Matt 4:2); and that he 
sojourned on earth forty days after his resurrec- 
tion (Acts i:3). The foregoing examples show 
how often in Scripture the number forty marks 
a period of trial leading to some great issue. 

6. Six hundred years old ; lit., a son of 
six hundred years. The Hebrews regarded man 



Ch. VII.] 



GENESIS 



87 



7 And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, 
and his sons' wives with him, into the ark, because 
of the waters of the flood. 

8 Of clean beasts, aud of beasts that are not clean, 
and of fowls, and of every thing that creepeth upon 
the earth, _ 

9 There went in two and two unto Noah into the 
ark, the male and the female, as God had com- 
manded Noah. 

10 And it came to pass after seven days, that the 
waters of the flood were upon the earth. 

11 In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in 
the second month, the seventeenth day of the 
month, the same day were all the fountains of the 
great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven 
were opened. 



7 flood of waters was upon the earth. And Noah 
went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his 
sons' wives with him, into the ark, because of 

8 the waters of the flood. Of clean beasts, and of 
beasts that are not clean, and of fowls, and of 
every thing that creepeth upon the ground, 

9 there went in two and two unto Noah into the 
ark, male and female, as God commanded Noah. 

10 And it came to pass after the seven days, that 

11 the waters of the flood were upon the earth. In 
the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the 
second month, on the seventeenth day of the 
month, on the same day were all the fountains 
of the great deep broken up, and the windows of 



as the child of the time in which he was brought 
up and his character formed; and hence in 
speaking of the age of a person, they always 
said he was the son (or she was the daughter) 
of so many years. Thus in 17 : 17, Sarah is 
spoken of as being " ninety years old" ; Heb., 
a daughter of ninety years. 

7. The mention of Noah's wife and of his 
sons' wives shows that in his family the original 
institution of marriage and monogamy was 
preserved. 

11. In the second month. 1 By many 
"the second month " here is taken to mean the 
second month Marcheshvan, of the civil year, 
which began in Tishri, corresponding to our 
September or October, and hence "the second 
month" would include part of our October and 
November. Others think that Moses speaks 
here as in other parts of the Pentateuch, ac- 
cording to the calendar received in his day, and 
means the second month Iyar (part of April 
and May) of the sacred year, which began in 



Abib (Exod. 12 : 2 ; 13 : i) } afterwards called Nisan 
(Neh. 2:1; Esther 3:7). The former is the better 
supported view. The seventeenth day of the 
second month would thus bring us to the early 
part of November, the beginning of the wintry 
and rainy season. 

Were all the fountains (or reservoirs) of 
the great deep (Job 38 : 16; Prov. 8 : 28) broken 
up (rent open) and the windows (sluices, 
floodgates) of heaven (s : 2 ; 2 Kings 1 : 19 ; isa. 24 : is ■, 
Mai. 3 : 10) were opened. These words ascribe 
the first and leading cause of the flood to the 
waters of the ocean ; its second and less efficient 
cause to the rain. They pictorially describe the 
bursting of these waters from the restraint by 
which they had been held (Prov. 8 : 29 ; job 38 : 8-10 ; 

Pa. 104 : 9 ; Jer. 5 : 22 ; Job 26 : 8), the result being 

the immediate inundation of the inhabited por- 
tion of the earth. All that would be necessary 
to cause the sea to break through its "bars" 
and " doors" would be the elevation of its bed, 
or the depression of the surrounding land-level. 2 



J The ancient Hebrews had no particular names for their months, but called them by their number, 
the first, the second, etc. This is observable throughout the Pentateuch, where the name Abib, being not 
the proper name of the month, but meaning ear of corn, distinguishes the month as that in which the com 
became ripe. So also in Joshua, Judges, and Samuel, where the same method prevails. But in Solomon's 
reign the second, eighth, and seventh months of the sacred year are called Zif (1 Kings 6 : 1), Bui (ver. 38), 
and Ethaniin (1 Kings 8:2), which name Solomon may have borrowed from the Phoenicians, Chaldeans, 
or Egyptians. Not, however, till after the Babylonish captivity were names given to all the months, and 
they were those which the Jews found in use among the Chaldeans and Persians ; but of these names, 
seven only are found in the Old Testament, namely, Shebat, Chislev, Adar, Nisan, Elul, Tebeth, and 
Si van. The others are Iyar, Tammuz, Ab, Marcheshvan, and Tishri. 

2 Recorded facts show that a catastrophe like that of the flood is not outside geological probability. 
The vast chains of the Himalaya, the Caucasus, the Jura mountains, and the Alps, were all upheaved in 
the Pliocene period, one of the most recent in geology. Nor are such movements of the earth's surface on 
a large scale unknown even now. Darwin (Naturalist's Voyage, pp. 254, 297, 310) instances several of 
them. On one part of the Island of St. Maria, in Chili, he found beds of putrid mussel shells still adhering 
to the rocks, ten feet above high-water mark, where the inhabitants had formerly dived at low-water 
spring tides for these shells ; and at Valparaiso similar shells at the height of thirteen hundred feet. At 
another place a great bed of now-existing shells had been raised three hundred and fifty feet above the 
level of the sea. 

"I have convincing proofs," he says, "that this part of the continent of South America— northern 
Chili— has been elevated, near the coast, at least from one thousand to thirteen hundred feet since the 
epoch of existing shells ; and further inland the rise possibly may have been greater." 

Wallace shows that a portion of the south of Asia, nearly twice as large as Great Britain and Ireland 
together, has sunk beneath the ocean since the creation of the present forms of vegetation and animal 



life. 



88 



GENESIS 



[Ch. VII. 



12 And the rain was upon the earth forty days 
and forty nights. 

13 In the selfsame day entered Noah, and Shem, 
and Ham. and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and 
Noah's wife, and the three wives of his sons with 
them, into the ark ; 

14 They, and every beast after his kind, and all 
the cattle after their kind, and every creeping tiling 
that creepeth upon the earth after his kind, and 
every fowl after his kind, every bird of every sort. 

15 And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two 
and two of all flesh, wherein is the breath of life. 



12 heaven were opened. And the rain was upon 

13 the earth forty days and forty nights. In the 
selfsame day entered Noah, and Shem, and 
Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah's 
wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, 

14 into the ark ; they, and every beast after its 
kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and 
every creeping thing that creepeth upon the 
earth after its kind, and every fowl after its 

15 kind, every bird of every sort. And they went 
in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all 



Such elevation or depression, produced by in- 
ternal convulsion, was doubtless the principal 
cause of the flood — the same cause which oper- 
ated to the separation of the land from the water 
on the third creative day. 1 

12. And the (heavy) rain was upon the 
earth forty days and forty nights. The 
word here rendered "rain," D#|, gcshem, com- 
ing from a root which means to rain with vio- 
lence, differs from that, "^D, matar, which de- 
notes any rain. The prefixed article points to 
the rain already implied in the opening of the 
windows of heaven. These forty days are to be 
taken as included in the one hundred and fifty 
days of ver. 24. Ver. 2 of the following chapter 
seems to imply that the rain from heaven was 
not restrained till after the one hundred and 
fifty days. 

15. And they went in unto Noah into 
the ark, two and two of all flesh, Avhere- 
in is the breath of life. Here arises the 
question : Were all the animals of the earth 
represented by those that went into the ark? 
The answer to this question depends somewhat 
upon another : Was the flood universal or local ? 
If it was only local — which is doubtless the cor- 
rect view (see under ver. 20 ) ; there would be no 
necessity of all the wild animals being repre- 
sented in the ark, since their range would be 
greater than that of antediluvian man or of the 
flood. But if they were not in the ark, and the 
flood was universal, they would have been 
swept entirely away, and their present existence 
in the world would have to be explained on the 
supposition of a re-creation of their several 
species subsequent to the flood — a supposition 
entirely inadmissible. 

That specimens of every kind of living crea- 
ture were not preserved in the ark is evident 
from the simple fact that the ark was not large 



enough to furnish accommodation for all, with 
the food necessary for their sustenance. There 
are now known to exist over sixteen hundred 
and fifty species of mammals, over ten thousand 
species of birds, over two thousand species of 
reptiles, and over one hundred and twenty 
thousand species of insects, and the exploration 
of new continents and islands is continually 
adding to the list. For all these it is doubtful if 
fifty arks would have furnished the necessary 
accommodation ; and four men could not cer- 
tainly have cared for all. 

But was not Noah commanded to take two of 
every living thing ef all flesh into the ark? 
Most assuredly. But he would understand this 
of those animals only which were known to 
him. 

The animals which Noah took into the ark 
were only species of those which belonged to 
the tract which was to be covered by the flood, 
and probably only the more domestic and useful 
of these. A right interpretation of 9 : 10 2 favors 
the idea that the wild animals were not repre- 
sented among those that entered the ark. The 
covenant into which God entered with Noah 
that no flesh should thenceforth be cut off by the 
waters of a flood covered all animal life "from 
all that went out of the ark, to every (wild) 
beast of the earth " (9 : io), showing that as the 
latter did not come out of the ark they could 
not have gone in. These animals, being out- 
side the inundated district, were safe in their 
own regions — in the regions, that is, in which 
they were created. The popular notion that all 
animals were created in one spot, not far from 
the original abode of Adam and Eve, and then 
spread abroad, accommodating themselves to 
different climates and zones, has no support 
either in Scripture or in common sense. By 
the divine fiat they originated in the districts 



1 Dawson remarks that the cause of the deluge as observed by the narrator " accords with the state- 
ment that the ark drifted northward towards the mountains of Armenia, as would be the case if the 
waters of the Indian Ocean were poured into interior Asia." 

2 This passage, as rendered in the Revised version and in Doctor Oonant's translation, favors the view 
that all the beasts of the earth were represented in those that came out of the ark. But preferable to 
either of these renderings is that of the Authorized version, which is more literal and more accordant 
with the Hebrew idiom. 



Ch. VII. ] 



GENESIS 



89 



16 And they that went in, went in male and 
female of all flesh, as God had commanded him : 
and the Lord shut him in. 

17 And the flood was forty days upon the earth ; 
and the waters increased, and bare up the ark, and 
it was lifted up above the earth. 

18 And the. waters prevailed, and were increased 
greatly upon the earth ; and the ark went upon the 
face of the waters. 

19 And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon 
the earth ; and all the high hills, that were under 
the whole heaven, were covered. 

20 Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail ; 
and the mountains were covered. 



16 flesh wherein is the breath of life. And they 
that went in, went in male and female of all 
flesh, as God commanded him : and the Lord 

17 shut him in. And the flood was forty days upon 
the earth ; and the waters increased, and bare 
up the ark, and it was lift up above the earth. 

18 And the waters prevailed, and increased greatly 
upon the earth ; and the ark went upon the face 

19 of the waters. And the waters prevailed ex- 
ceedingly upon the earth ; and all the high 
mountains that were under the whole heaven 

20 were covered. Fifteen cubits upward did the 
waters prevail ; and the mountains were cov- 



to which, by their natures, they seem peculiarly 
adapted, and out of which, with few exceptions, 
they cannot live. The flood needed to cover 
only the inhabited part of the earth to accom- 
plish its full purpose of sweeping away all man- 
kind except Noah and his family. 

16. And the Lord 1 shut him in (lit., 
shut after him; comp. Judg. 9 : 51) ; an intima- 
tion that the ark and its inmates were the 
special objects of the divine care and protection. 

*Ver. 17-20. In these verses the story of the in- 
crease of the waters is told with a minuteness 
of detail, a vividness and tautology which show 
the narrator to have been an eye-witness. Says 
Dillmann : " It is as though the author, moved 
by the momentous character of the day, could 
not do enough to satisfy himself in the detailed 
portraiture of the transaction." The different 
stages of the increase are thus distinctly 
marked : 

17. The waters increase, take the ark upon 
their bosom, and lift it above the earth. 

18. The waters prevail, increase greatly, and 
the ark floats upon the face of the waters. 

19. The waters prevail exceedingly, and all 
the high mountains are covered. 

20. The waters still prevail, rising fifteen 
cubits after the mountains are covered. 

20. Fifteen cubits upward (half the 
height of the ark) did the Avaters prevail. 
The water-draft of the ark was probably about 
this measure, which would be indicated when 
the ark floated. And the draft of the ark, being 
known, would be determinative of the depth of 
the water over the summit of the hill on which 
it grounded. 

The statement (ver. 19) that "all the high 
mountains that were under the whole heaven 
were covered," is simply one of those univer- 
sals of Scripture whose meaning must be limited 



by the connection in which they stand, or by 
the nature of the subjects to which they are 
applied. The Scriptures furnish numerous ex- 
amples of the word "all" used in this limited 
sense. For example, in 41 : 57 it is said that 
"all countries came into Egypt to Joseph to 
buy corn, because the famine was sore in all the 
earth." Here, evidently, only the well-known 
countries around Egypt are meant. Again, in 
Exod. 9 : 25 Moses tells us that " the hail smote 
every herb of the field, and brake every tree of 
the forest." But, as showing that this state- 
ment is not to be taken in its fullest sense, he 
says a little further on (io : 15) that the locusts 
"did eat every herb of the land, and all the 
fruit of the trees which the hail had left." 
Again, in 1 Kings 10 : 24 it is said that " all the 
earth sought the presence of Solomon, to hear 
his wisdom" ; that is, his fame was very exten- 
sive ; many sought his presence, but not literally 
the whole earth. So in Matt. 3 : 5 concerning 
John the Baptist: "There went out unto him 
Jerusalem, and all Judea, and all the region 
round about Jordan" ; that is, a great number 
of people flocked to him. Again, the declara- 
tion of Paul to the Colossians (i = 23) concerning 
the gospel is that it "Avas preached to every 
creature under heaven" (comp. Deut. 2 : 25) ; that 
is, it had been preached very extensively, and 
so every one of his readers would understand 
him, so conformable was this mode of expres- 
sion to the idiom of the Bible, and indeed of all 
languages. 

To those ancestors of Israel from whom the 
primitive tradition of the flood was derived, 
"the whole earth" was the district in which 
the race had spread at the time — the valley of 
the Euphrates and the Tigris, and ' ' the highest 
hills" were the mountains that skirted its 
northern, northeastern, and eastern sides. The 



1 That the variations in the names of God furnish no criterion by which to detect different documents, 
is evident from the fact that in this verse, in two consecutive clauses, Elohim alternates with Jehovah, 
the animals entering the ark at the command of Elohim, the God of creation and providence, and Jeho- 
vah, the covenant God and guardian of his people, shutting Noah in. The critics attach the last clause 
of ver. 16 to ver. 12, but wholly on arbitrary grounds. 



90 



GENESIS 



[Ch. VIII. 



21 And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, 
both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of 
every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, 
and every man : 

22 All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of 
all that was in the dry land, died. 

23 And every living substance was destroyed 
which was upon the face of the ground, both man, 
and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of 
the heaven ; and they were destroyed from the 
earth : and Noah only remained alive, and they 
that were with him in the ark. 

24 And the waters prevailed upon the earth a 
hundred and fifty days. 



21 ered. And all flesh died that moved upon the 
earth, both fowl, and cattle, and beast, and 
every creeping thing that creepeth upon the 

22 earth, and every man : all in whose nostrils was 
the breath of the spirit of life, of all that was in 

23 the dry land, died. And every living thing was 
destroyed which was upon the face of the 
ground, both man, and cattle, and creeping 
thing, and fowl of the heaven ; and they were 
destroyed from the earth: and Noah only was 
left, and they that were with him in the ark. 

24 And the waters prevailed upon the earth an 
hundred and fifty days. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



1 AND God remembered Noah, and every living 
thing, and all the cattle that was with him in the 
ark : and God made a wind to pass over the earth, 
and the waters assuaged. 

2 The fountains also of the deep and the win- 
dows of heaven were stopped, and the rain from 
heaven was restrained. 

3 And the waters returned from off the earth 
continually : and after the end of the hundred and 
fifty days the waters were abated. 

4 And the ark rested in the seventh month, on 
the seventeenth day of the month, upon the 
mountains of Ararat. 

5 And the waters decreased continually until the 
tenth month : in the tenth month, on the first day of 
the month, were the tops of the mountains seen. 

6 And it came to pass at the end of forty days, 
that Noah opened the window of the ark which he 
had made : 

7 And he sent forth a raven, which went forth to 
and fro, until the waters Avere dried up from off the 
earth. 



1 AND God remembered Noah, and every living 
thing, and all the cattle that were with him in 
the ark : and God made a wind to pass over the 

2 earth, and the waters assuaged ; the fountains 
also of the deep and the windows of heaven 
were stopped, and the rain from heaven was 

3 restrained ; and the waters returned from off the 
earth continually : and after the end of an hun- 

4 dred and fifty days the waters decreased. And 
the ark rested in the seventh month, on the sev- 
enteenth day of the month, upon the mountains 

5 of Ararat. And the waters decreased continu- 
ally until the tenth month : in the tenth month, 
on the first day of the month, were the tops of 

6 the mountains seen. And it came to pass at the 
end of forty days, that Noah opened the window 

7 of the ark which he had made : and he sent 
forth a raven, and it went forth to and fro, until 
the waters were dried up from off the earth. 



flood is described as it would have presented 
itself to an eye-witness — as it must have pre- 
sented itself to Noah and his sons. The nar- 
rator gives merely personal experiences, irre- 
spective altogether of causes or universality, 
except as these came Avifhin his own observation. 
He means universality in the sense of what he 
could see, and of the destruction of all land life 
within his ken. Had he designed to record 
only that all the heights within the visible 
horizon had disappeared beneath the rising 
waters, he would probably have done so by say- 
ing that "all the high hills under the whole 
heaven were covered." 

22. All in whose nostrils was the 
breath of life, better, of the spirit of life. 
This latter rendering is doubtless the correct 
one, though the Authorized version, following 
the Septuagint, gives "the breath of life." 
The phrase " the breath of the spirit of life," 
does not occur again in the Old Testament. It 
is the same expression that is used in 2 : 7, with 
the exception that here the word T\M, ruach, 
" spirit," is added. The reference is solely to 
man, whose higher nature is thus indicated. 



Says Delitzsch : " Ver. 22 points back to 2 : 7, 
from which place onward, HDKO, neshamah, 
(breath or spirit) is the usual word for the self- 
conscious Spirit." (See under 2:7.) 



Chap. 8. 1-9. Subsidence of the 
Flood, and the Going Foeth of Noah. 
1. And God remembered Noah. Notthat 
God had been previously forgetful of Noah and 
of the animals which were with him in the ark, 
but only that now he would show his care of 

him (19 : 29 ; 30 : 22 ; Ps. 145 : 15, 16 ; Jonah 4 : 11 ; Luke 

i 2 : 6) by causing the waters to assuage, so that 
they might be released from their confinement. 
The steps leading to this release are then 
enumerated (ver. it>, 2, 3). 

4. And the ark rested . . . upon the 
mountains of Ararat. 1 Not on the lofty 
peak, now called Masis in Armenian, where 
almost universal tradition says it stranded, but 
on some hill in the Ararat region. 

7. And he sent forth a (lit., the) raven. 
This article is generic. The raven as represen- 
tative of its species is hereby distinguished 
from the animals belonging to other species 



1 Tavernier, a celebrated French traveler, says that the city Nackshivan, three leagues from Mount 
Ararat, is the most ancient city in the world ; that the name is compounded of Nack, a ship, and schivan, 
settled or stopped, and that it received this name in memory of Noah having settled there after leaving the 
ark. 



Ch. VIII.] 



GENESIS 



91 



8 Also he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the 
waters were abated from off the face of the ground. 

9 But the dove found no rest for the sole of her 
foot, and she returned unto him into the ark; for 
the waters were on the face of the whole earth. 
Then he put forth his hand, and took her, and 
pulled her in unto him into the ark. 

10 And he stayed yet other seven days; and 
again he sent forth the dove out of the ark. 

11 And the dove came in to him in the evening, 
and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf plucked off : 
so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off 
the earth. 

12 And he stayed yet other seven days, and sent 
forth the dove, which returned not again unto him 
any more. 

13 And it came to pass in the six hundredth and 
first year, in the first month, the first day of the 
month, the waters were dried up from off the earth : 
and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and 
looked, and, behold, the face of the ground was 
dry. 

14 And in the second month, on the seven and 
twentieth day of the month, was the earth dried. 

15 And God spake unto Noah, saying, 

16 Go forth of the ark, thou, and thy wife, and 
thy sons, and thy sons' wives with thee. 

17 Bring forth with thee every living thing that 
is with thee, of all flesh, both of fowl, and of cattle, 
and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the 
earth ; that they may breed abundantly in the 
eartti, and be fruitful, and multiply upon the 
earth. 



8 And he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the 
waters were abated from off the face of the 

9 ground ; but the dove found no rest for the sole 
of her foot, and she returned unto him to the 
ark, for the waters were on the face of the whole 
earth : and he put forth his hand, and took her, 

10 and brought her in unto him into the ark. And 
he stayed yet other seven days ; and again he 

11 sent forth the dove out of the ark ; and the dove 
came in to him at eventide ; and, lo, in her 
mouth an olive leaf pluckt off : so Noah knew 
that the waters were abated from off the earth. 

12 And he stayed yet other seven days ; and sent 
forth the dove ; and she returned not again unto 

I 13 him any more. And it came to pass in the six 
hundred and first year, in the first month, the 
first day of the month, the waters were dried up 
from off the earth : and Noah removed the cov- 
ering of the ark, and looked, and, behold, the 

14 face of the ground was dried. And in the sec- 
ond month, on the seven and twentieth day of 
the month, was the earth dry. 

15 And God spake unto Noah, saying, 

16 Go forth of the ark, thou, and thy wife, and thy 

17 sons, and thy sons' wives with thee. Bring forth 
with thee every living thing that is with thee of 
all flesh, both fowl, and cattle, and every creep- 
ing thing that creepeth upon the earth ; that 
they may breed abundantly in the earth, and be 



(1 Sam. 18 : 34; 1 Kings 20 : 36; Nord. § 719, II. 2, a). 

Though differing from the crow it belonged to 
the same species. Which went forth to and 
fro (Heb., going forth and returning) until 
the waters were dried up from off the 
earth. The raven flew backwards and for- 
wards, from the ark and to the ark, resting, as 
has been thought, at times on floating carcases 
and deriving food from them, and then again 
on the ark, but without seeking entrance into 
it. Noah appears to have been unable from the 
movements of the raven to arrive at any certain 
conclusion as to the condition of the earth, and 
consequently adopted the expedient of sending 

OUt the dove (ver. 8, 10, 12).l 

8. And he sent forth a dove (lit., the 
dove). As the dove rests only on dry ground 
and feeds only on grain, and is, moreover, ten- 
derly attached to its mate, it would, on being 
sent forth, be more likely to return. From 
ver. 10 it may be inferred that after sending 
out the raven, Noah waited seven days before 
sending out the dove. 

The waiting of seven days between the times 
of sending out the dove may be taken as an 
intimation that the weekly Sabbath was ob- 
served by Noah in the ark. What more likely 
than that these acts of Noah should be per- 



formed, not arbitrarily, but religiously, and on 
days held sacred for prayer and religious rest. 

11. An olive leaf plucked off. The Heb. 
denotes a newly pluckt olive leaf. The fresh- 
ness of the fracture would show that it had not 
been picked up from the surface of the water. 
Strabo shows that the olive tree is found in 
Armenia ; and according to Theophrastus (Hist. 
Plant., IV., 8) and Pliny (Wat. Hist., XIII., 50) 
it retains its verdure even under water. 

14. And in the second month, on the 
seven and twentieth day of the month, 
was the earth dried. According to 8 : 11, 
the flood began in the six hundredth year of 
Noah's life, in the second month, and on the 
seventeenth day of the month ; according to 
this verse the earth became perfectly dry on the 
twenty-seventh day of the second month, in the 
six hundred and first year of Noah's life; the 
duration of the flood was therefore one year and 
ten days. 

In the original Hebrew, three verbs are em- 
ployed to denote the gradual decrease of the 
water. In ver. 11 we have 77 J, galal, "to be 
lightened," signifying the abatement or diminu- 
tion of the water ; in ver. 13, S^n, charabh, 
"to be dried up," indicating the disappearance 
of the water; in ver. 14, KO\ yabhash, "to be 



1 From the circumstance that Noah could learn nothing decisive from the raven, it has ever been 
considered a bird of ill omen, while the dove which brought back an olive leaf in its mouth has ever 
been regarded a bird of good omen, and an olive branch a symbol of peace and jov (2 Maccab. 14 : 4 ; 
Virg., Am., VI., 230). 



92 



GENESIS 



[Ch. VIII. 



18 And Noah went forth, and his sons, and his 
wife, and his sons' wives with him : 

19 Every beast, every creeping thing, and every 
fowl, and whatsoever creepeth upon the earth, 
after their kinds, went forth out of the ark. 

20 And Noah builded an altar unto the Lord; 
and took of every clean beast, and of every clean 
fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. 

21 And the Lord smelled a sweet savour; and 
the Lord said in his heart, I will not again curse 
the ground any more for man's sake ; for the imagi- 
nation of man's heart is evil from his youth : neither 
will I again smite any more every thing living, as I 
have done. 

22 While the earth remaineth, seedtime and har- 
vest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, 
and day and night shall not cease. 



18 fruitful, and multiply upon the earth. And 
Noah went forth, and his sons, and his wife, and 

19 his sons' wives with him : every beast, every 
creeping thing, and every fowl, whatsoever 
moveth upon the earth, after their families, went 

20 forth out of the ark. And Noah builded an altar 
unto the Lord ; and took of every clean beast, 
and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offer- 

21 ings on the altar. And the Lord smelled the 
sweet savour ; and the Lord said in his heart, I 
will not again curse the ground any more for 
man's sake, for that the imagination of man's 
heart is evil from his youth ; neither will I again 
smite any more every thing living, as I have 

22 done. While the earth remaineth, seedtime and 
harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and 
winter, and day and night shall not cease. 



dry," denoting the drying of the ground. In 
expressing this gradation Luther employs the 
words trocken, ganz trocken, and v'ollig trocken. 
20-22. Noah's Sacrifice to Jehovah. 
20. Asid Noah builded an altar unto the 
Lord. The first altar mentioned in Scripture, 
but not necessarily the first altar built. Their 
earlier erection is implied in the sacrifices 
offered before the flood (* = 3, 4). The Hebrew 
word for altar, H3TD, mizbeach, properly sig- 
nifies a place for slaying sacrifices. The English 
word altar comes from the Latin alius (high, 
elevated), because originally the altar was 
made of raised mounds of earth or rough stone 

(Exod. 20 : 24, 25 ; cornp. Deut. 27 : 5 ; Ezra 3 : 2) ; 01" built 

on the tops of hills and mountains. Josephus 
says ( Wars, B.VL, chap. 14) that the altar which 
was in the temple in his time was of rough 
stones, fifteen cubits high, forty cubits long, 
and forty wide. 

And took of every clean beast, and of 
every clean fowl. This offering was unique 
and worthy the occasion. Including in it every 
animal fit for sacrifice, it was significant of 
Noah's overflowing thankfulness for the com- 
plete deliverance which had been vouchsafed to 
him and his family. 

And offered burnt offerings on the al- 
tar. The word T\l')}, 'olah, burnt offering, 
means, literally, that which ascends, the idea 
being, not that the sacrificial animals were 
raised upon the altar, but that they rose from 

the altar to heaven (Judg 20 : 40; Jer. 48 : 15 ; Amos 

i ■ 10). The word, like V^3, kalil (Dent. 33:io ; 
1 Sam. 7:9; Ps. 5i:i9) ? signifies a sacrifice in 
which the whole is burnt. The burnt offering 
was the most ancient kind of sacrifice, insti- 
tuted before the law, as appears from this verse 
and Exod. 10 : 25 ; 18 : 12, and existing among 

the Gentiles (Num. 23 : l, 2, 3 ; 2 Kings 3 : 27 ). Though 

afterward under the Mosaic economy, it was an 
expiatory sacrifice, serving as a covering or 
atonement for the offerer (Lev. 1 : 4 ; u : 20 ; 16 : 24), 
yet here it seems to have been also eucharistic, 



being offered by Noah in acknowledgment of 
the mercies he had received. In the patriarchal 
time the head of the family offered sacrifice (Job 
i:5; 42 : 8) ; under the law the office was con- 
fined to the priest (Lev. 1 .- 5). 

21. And the Lord smelled the sweet 
savor (lit., odor of satisfaction) . The meaning 
is that the sacrifice which Noah presented was 
as acceptable to God as sweet odors are to the 

Senses of a man (comp. Lev. 2 : 12 ; 26 : 31 ; Num. 15 : S) . 

As it were, Noah's heart and spirit ascended to 
God in the vapor into which the sacrificial 
victim, that died in his stead, was resolved ; 
and God was well pleased with Noah's gratitude 
for protection and with his desire for further 
communications of grace, as thus expressed. 
The Septuagint renders the words "sweet 
savor " by oo-^v evwSia^ which words are used 
by Paul (Eph. 5 : 2) to express the satisfaction 
felt by God in the sacrifice of Christ. Said in 
his heart; that is, purposed within himself. 

I will not again curse the ground ; that 
is, as I have now done, by a deluge. The words 
are not to be taken as a revocation of the curse 
inflicted upon the earth for man's sin (3 : 17), 
nor as a pledge that it should not be destroyed 
by fire (2 Peter 3 : 7, io), but only as a declaration 
that so universal a judgment should not again 
be inflicted upon mankind. 

For the imagination of man's heart 
is evil from his youth. The meaning is not 
that the evil imagination of man's heart is a 
reason for God's forbearance toward him — this 
would be inconsistent with 6 : 5-7, but rather 
that notwithstanding that evil imagination, 
this forbearance should henceforth be shown. 
This meaning is made clear by rendering the 
first word \3, ki, not "for," but "though," 
which meaning it often has (Exod. 3 : 17 ; Josh. 

17 : 18). 

22. While the earth remaineth, seed- 
time and harvest, etc. That is, while the 
earth remains, the regular succession of the sea- 
sons, so indispensable to the continuance of the 



Ch. IX.] 



GENESIS 



93 



CHAPTER IX 



1 AND God blessed Noah and his sons, and said 
unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish 
the earth. 

2 And the fear of you and the dread of you shall 
be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every 
fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the 
earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea ; into your 
hand are they delivered. 



1 AND God blessed Noah and his sons, and said 
unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and re- 

2 plenish the earth. And the fear of you and the 
dread of you shall be upon every beast of the 
earth, and upon every fowl of the air ; with all 
wherewith the ground teemeth, and all the 
fishes of the sea, into your hand are they deliv- 



race and of human activity, shall continue 
without any such interruption as had been 
caused by the flood. The ancient Hebrews dis- 
tinguished two seasons only, namely, summer 

and winter (Isa. 18 : 6 ; Amos 3 : 15 ; Zech. U : 8 ; Ps. 74 : 

17), with the seedtime and harvest, the cold and 
heat, respectively belonging to them. The 
"day and night" are added to complete the 
series of natural pairs, and because their regular 
alternation may have been disturbed during 
the flood, when the heavens were black with 
clouds. This permanent arrangement is styled 
by Jeremiah the Lord's covenant of the day and 

night (Jer. 33 : 20, 25). 

Traditions of the Deluge. All the great 
nations of history have traditions more or less 
definite of a vast deluge in the days of their 
fathers. Chief among these are the Babylonian, 
the Egyptian, the Indian, the Grecian, and the 
American. The tradition agreeing most nearly 
with the Mosaic narrative is the Babylonian as 
recorded first, in one of the clay tablets ex- 
humed at Nineveh, and translated by the late 
Mr. George Smith of the British Museum, and 
second, as related by Berosus, the Babylonian 
priest. This tablet forms the eleventh episode 
of a national epic in celebration of the deeds of 
Izdubar. To Izdubar it is related by Tsitna- 
pishtim, his ancestor, that the gods were moved 
to bring about a great flood-storm, and that in 
preparation therefor he built a ship six hundred 
cubits long, one hundred and forty cubits high, 
and one hundred and forty cubits wide, which 
he filled with his treasures, and on board of 
which he took his man-servants and maid-ser- 
vants, the cattle, and the beast of the field, and 
the artisans ; that six days and six nights the 
wind, flood-storm, and rain prevailed, and 
abated on the seventh ; that the ship took its 
course to the country of Nitsir and stranded on 
one of its mountains; that on the following 
seventh day he released a dove, which found no 
resting-place and returned ; next a swallow, 
which also returned, and then a raven, which 
did not return ; that he then sent forth all the 
animals, poured out a libation, and made an 
offering on the summit of the mountain. 



In the account given by Berosus, it is related 
that in the time of Xisuthrus, the tenth king of 
the Chaldeans, the god Chronos appeared to 
him in a dream and said that on the fifteenth 
day of the month Dsesius, mankind would be 
destroyed by a flood ; that he should build a 
ship and embark with kith and kin ; should 
put on board, moreover, food and drink, and 
drive in animals both winged and four-footed ; 
and having made all things ready, should sail 
away to the gods, to pray for the good of man- 
kind. Xisuthrus followed the advice of the 
god, built a vessel five stadia in length and two 
in breadth, and put into it everything which 
had been ordered, and took on board his wife, 
his children, and his kinsfolk. As soon as the 
flood abated, Xisuthrus three times sent forth 
birds from the vessel, which returned to him the 
second time with mud upon their feet, but the 
third time returned to him no more. Finding 
that the ship was grounded on a mountain, he 
disembarked with his wife and children, built 
an altar and sacrificed to the gods. 

In the majority of these "traditions there is a 
surprising agreement with the Scripture narra- 
tive. The Noah of whom the Bible speaks may 
be recognized in the righteous Manu of India, 
with his three sons, Scherma, Charina, and 
Jyapeti ; in Xisuthrus, the tenth king of Chal- 
dea ; in Osiris of Egypt ; in Fohi of China, and 
in Deucalion of Greece. 

The conclusion to be drawn from this univer- 
sal tradition of the deluge story is not certainly 
that it is an ether myth, descriptive of the phe- 
nomena of the sky (see theory of Schirren and 
Gerland in Ency. Brit., art. "Deluge"); but 
rather, as Kalisch justly observes, " the har- 
mony between all these accounts is an unde- 
niable guarantee that the tradition is no idle 
invention," but "embodies," in the words of 
Bawlinson, " the recollection of a fact in which 
all mankind was concerned." 



Chap. 9. 1-17. The Covenant with 
Noah. 1, 2. These verses substantially re- 
peat 1 : 28, the difference being that God does 
not command Noah and his sons to " subdue 
the earth " as he had commanded Adam, but 



94 



GENESIS 



[Ch. IX. 



3 Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat 
for you ; even as the green herb have I given you 
all things. 

4 But flesh with the life thereof, which is the 
blood thereof, shall ye not eat. 

5 And surely your blood of your lives will I re- 
quire : at the hand of every beast will I require it, 
and at the hand of man ; at the hand of every 
man's brother will I require the life of man. 



3 ered. Every moving thing that liveth shall be 
food for you ; as the green herb have I given you 

4 all. But flesh with the life thereof, which is the 

5 blood thereof, shall ye not eat. And surely your 
blood, the blood of your lives, will I require ; a 
the hand of every beast will I require it : and at 
the hand of man, even at the hand of every 
man's brother, will I require the life of man. 



simply to " replenish " it ; and that the " fear" 
and " dread " of Noah and his sons are now to 
be upon the brute creation in addition to the 
"dominion" with which Adam was invested. 
With this assurance of protection against wild 
and ferocious animals, men would not fear to go 
forth in different directions and colonize the 
earth. 

3. Every moving thing that liveth shall 
be food for you. Not an injunction, but a 
permission — the first permission of the use of 
animal food, and of the killing of animals for 
this purpose. The term " liveth " implies that 
animals that had died of themselves or had been 
killed by other beasts were excluded from this 
grant. Up to this time man's dominion over 
the lower animals did not extend to his taking 
their life, except for sacrifice. It is the opinion 
of some that from the first institution of sacri- 
fice, a portion of the flesh w r as eaten by the 
offerer, and that such a participation formed a 
part of the sacrificial rite, but that the use of 
animal food had been restricted to those occa- 
sions. Others suppose that the use of animal 
food had been general, and that God now made 
allowable what had before been indulged in 
without permission. 

As the green hero have I given you 
all. Alluding to the primitive grant made to 
man (i : 29). The distinction between clean and 
unclean animals which was made in relation to 
sacrifice (7:2) does not appear to have been 
made as yet in reference to food (Lev. 11). 

4. But flesh with the life thereof, 
which is the blood thereof, shall ye not 
eat. Some commentators (Murphy) think 
this prohibition was intended to prevent the 
barbarous practice of cutting pieces of flesh 
from a living animal, and devouring them raw 



with the blood (concerning which practice, 
however, there is no evidence that it existed 
in Noah's time, much less in his family) ; 
but this, though involved in the spirit of the 
prohibition, was not its main purpose. Pri- 
marily it was designed to prevent the eating of 
slaughtered animals from which the blood had 
not been properly drained at death, and the use 
of blood in its simple, unmixed state as an 

article Of diet (Lev. 3 : 17 ; 7 : 26, 27 ; 17 : 10-U; 19 : 
26; Deut. 12 : 16, 23, 24; 15 : 23), because the blood, 

which represents the life, was appointed for the 

expiation Of sins (Lev. 17 : ll ; Heb. 9 : 22 ; 1 John 1:7). 

It took the place of the soul or life of the offerer 
of the sacrifice, which God might have de- 
manded. 1 In the great scheme of expiation life 

goes for life (Isa. 53 : 12; JohD 10 : 11 ; Rom. 3 : 25). 

The Gentile converts in the primitive church 
were advised to abstain from blood (Acts 15 : 20, 
29; 21 : 25 ) ? and all the Jews at the present day 
rigorously refrain from eating it. 

5. And surely your blood, the blood of 
your lives, will I require (exact punish- 
ment for ; comp. 42 : 22 ; Ps. 9 : 12) . For neces- 
sary uses the blood of beasts might be shed, but 
not the blood of man by man or beast, on 
penalty of death. 

At the hand of every beast will I re- 
quire it. Such is the sacredness and inviola- 
bility of human life in the eye of God, that the 
animal that has caused the death of a man 
must be destroyed. This agrees with the enact- 
ment of the Mosaic law (Exod. 21 : 28). 2 l n the 
enactments of Solon and Draco there was a 
similar provision. 

At the hand of man, even at the hand 
of every man's brother, will I require 
the life of man. The fact that all men are 
brethren is here urged as a further reason 



1 The Hebrew word for " life," ^?}, nephesh, in this verse and in Lev. 17 : 10, 11, denotes both soul and 
life, and the context must decide which is to be used in translation. Thus in Isa. 53 : 12: "Because he 
poured out his soul unto death," that is, gave his life. In this verse " its blood," "tol, dhamo, is used appo- 
sitionally to " its soul," and in Lev. 17 : 14 the blood is regarded as the soul itself. Says Delitzsch : " Blood 
and life are one, inasmuch as they are in one another in a relation of intercausation ; the blood is not 
the same as the life, but it is before all other constituents of the animal corporeality the manifesta- 
tion, material, and vehicle of that life, which pervades, fashions, and continuously regenerates the 
corporeality." 

2 Exod. 21 : 28, while naming the goring ox, is generally understood as applying to all animals. 
Indeed, the Samaritan codex has nDfD Vd "jK lit?, shor '0 col behemah, an ox or any beast. 



Ch. IX.] 



GENESIS 



95 



6 Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his 
blood be shed : for in the image of God made he 
man. 

7 And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply; bring 
forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein. 

8 And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with 
him, saying, 

9 And I, behold, I establish my covenant with 
you, and with your seed after you ; 

10 And with every living creature that is with 
you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of 
the earth with you ; from all that go out of the ark, 
to every beast of the earth. 

11 And I will establish my covenant with you ; 
neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the 
waters of a flood ; neither shall there any more be i 
a flood to destroy the earth. 

12 And God said, This is the token of the cove- 
nant which I make between me and you, and every 
living creature that is with you, for perpetual gen- 
erations : 

13 I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be 
for a token of a covenant between me and the 
earth. 

14 And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud 
over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the 
cloud : 

15 And I will remember my covenant, which is 
between me and you and every living creature of 



6 Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his 
blood be shed : for in the image of God made he 

7 man. And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply ; 
bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multi- 
ply therein. 

8 And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons 

9 with him, saying, And I, behold, I establish my 
covenant with you, and with your seed after 

10 you ; and with every living creature that is with 
you, the fowl, the cattle, and every beast of the 
earth with you ; of all that go out of the ark, 

11 even every beast of the earth. And I will estab- 
lish my covenant with you ; neither shall all 
flesh be cut off any more" by the waters of the 
flood ; neither shall there any more be a flood to 

12 destroy the earth. And God said, This is the 
token of the covenant which I make between 
me and you and every living creature that is 

13 with you", for perpetual" generations : I do set my 
bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of 

14 a covenant between me and the earth. And it 
shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over 
the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the 

15 cloud, and I will remember my covenant, which 
is between me and you and every living creature 



against murder. The accountability referred to 
extends beyond the person of the manslayer 
(Num. 35 : ii). The implication is clear that 
every man is to consider every other man as 
his brother, and be as tender of his life as he 
would be of the life of one having the same 
parents with himself. This is evident from the 
words that follow 7 . 

6. Whoso sheddeth man's blood; that 
is, wilfully and unwarrantably; for accidental 
and unintentional killing the law afterwards 

provided (Josh. 20 : 3). 

By man shall his blood be shed; that 
is, judicially, by man as God's agent and in- 
strument. These words involve the setting up 
of the magisterial office (comp. xum. 35 : 31 ; Deut. 

19 : 13, 19, with Matt. 26 : 52 ; Rom. 13 : i ; Rev. 13 : 10) and 

furnish a basis for the law of the goel after- 
ward established in Israel (Dem. 19 : 6). Prior 
to this, murder was a crime, but punishable, so 
far as referred to, by God only (* : 15) ; here it 
is made punishable by human law. In the 
Chaldee version the words are paraphrased 
thus: "With witnesses by the sentence of the 
judges shall his blood be shed." Those de- 
manding a Scripture warrant for capital punish- 
ment may find it in this verse, which must be 
taken, not as a permission, but as a command — 
a command antedating the promulgation of the 
Jewish law, and addressed, not to the Jewish 
nation, which did not then exist, but to Noah 



and his sons, the progenitors of the new world, 
and intended to be binding on all their descend- 
ants. Says Dean Alford : " This should be 
thought of by those well-meaning, but shallow, 
persons who seek to abolish the punishment of 
death in Christian States." * 

For in the image of God made he 
man. These words imply that this image, 
though marred by the fall, is not entirely 
l effaced in any man (James 3:9). The holiness, 
I which constituted a part of the Divine likeness, 
was lost indeed, in the fall, but the personality 
and moral being remained. Because man wears 
the image of God, murder is not only the great- 
est wrong that he can do to his fellow-man, but 
a crime against the majesty of God himself. 

I (See on 1 : 26.) 

10. From all that go out of the ark, 
; to every beast of the earth, (see on 7 : 15.) 
13. I do set my bow in the cloud. As 

the rainbow is produced by the sun shining on 
falling drops of rain, it must have been already 
known ; and in these words God must be un- 
derstood as simply appointing it to be an out- 
ward visible sign of his covenant with Noah. 
Unlike circumcision, which God restricted to 
his chosen people as a sign of his covenant with 
them (it ; 11), the rainbow was made by him a 
universal sign of a universal covenant — a cove- 
nant pertaining to Noah and his posterity, and 
"all flesh upon the earth." 



1 To these three laws respecting the eating of blood, murder, and the authority of the magistrates to 
punish the criminal, the Jews have an ancient tradition that Noah added four others against idolatry 
blasphemy, incest, and theft, which precepts, called the seven Noachic Precepts, were made binding oil 
all Gentile proselytes. 



96 



GENESIS 



[Ch. IX. 



all flesh ; and the waters shall no more become a 
flood to destroy all flesh. 

16 And the bow shall be in the cloud ; and I will 
look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting 
covenant between God and every living creature of 
all flesh that is upon the earth. 

17 And God said unto Noah, This is the token of 
the covenant, which I have established between me 
and all flesh that is upon the earth. 

18 And the sons of Noah, that went forth of the 
ark, were Shem, and Ham, and Japheth : and Ham 
is the father of Canaan. 

19 These are the three sons of Noah : and of them 
was the whole earth overspread. 

20 And Noah began to be a husbandman, and he 
planted a vineyard : 

21 And he drank of the wine, and was drunken ; 
and he was uncovered within his tent. 

22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the 
nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren 
without. 

23 And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and 
laid it upon both their shoulders, and went back- 
ward, and covered the nakedness of their father ; 
and their faces were backward, and they saw not 
their father's nakedness. 



of all fiesh ; and the waters shall no more be- 

16 come a flood to destroy all flesh. And the bow 
shall be in the cloud ; and I will look upon it, 
that I may remember the everlasting covenant 
between God and every living creature of all 

17 flesh that is upon the earth. And God said unto 
Noah, This is the token of the covenant which I 
have established between me and all flesh that 
is upon the earth. 

1 18 And the sons of Noah, that went forth of the 
ark, were Shem, and Ham, and Japheth : and 

19 Ham is the father of Canaan. These three were 
the sons of Noah : and of these was the whole 
earth overspread. 

20 And Noah began to be an husbandman, and 

21 planted a vineyard : and he drank of the wine, 
and was drunken ; and he was uncovered within 

22 his tent. And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw 
the nakedness of his father, and told his two 

23 brethren without. And Shem and Japheth took 
a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, 
and went backward, and covered the nakedness 
of their father ; and their faces were backward, 



18-29. The Subsequent History of 
Noah. 18. And Ham is the father of 
Canaan. Ham was the father of other sons 
(io : 6) ( and the prominence given in this verse 
and in ver. 22 to Canaan, his youngest son, is 
owing probably to his being the subject of the 

CUrse (ver. 25). 

20. And Noah began to be a husband- 
man, and he planted a vineyard. Better : 

And Noah the husbandman began and planted 
a vineyard; which makes "husbandman" ap- 
positional to "Noah," and combines the two 
verbs in the sense of "began to plant" (Ges. § 

142, 3, a, 4 ; comp. 6:1; 26 : 18). Noah had probably 

been bred to the cultivation of the soil, and on 
leaving the ark he resumed that occupation. 
Among his other agricultural operations, he 
also planted a vineyard. Armenia lias ever 
been famous as a wine-producing country. On 
some of its mountain-sides the vine flourishes 
four thousand feet above the sea. Although 
this passage contains the first reference to the 
grape, vineyards doubtless existed before the 

flood. (See Matt. 24 : 37-38.) 

21. And he drank of the wine, and 
was drunken. The Hebrew term for wine 
in this passage is j-", yayin, from a root which 
signifies (Gesenius) to boil up, or ferment. 
Though some doubt exists as to the etymology 
of the word, there is none as to the inebriating 
quality of the product which it names (comp. 

49 : 12 ; 1 Sam. 1 : 14 ; Prov. 20 : 1 ; Isa. 5 : ll). It was 

the intoxicating power of wine that called forth 
the precautionary command to Aaron : " Drink 
no wine, nor strong drink, thou, nor thy sons 
with thee, when ye go into the tent of meeting, 



that ye die not " (Lev. 10 : 9) ; and it was the sub- 
sequent non-observance of this command which 
occasioned Isaiah's bitter complaint: "The 
priest and the prophet have erred through 
strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, 
they are gone astray through strong drink" 
(isa. 28 : 7).i The strength of the wine may have 
been greater than Noah supposed, or his age 
may have rendered him more easily affected by 
it. " At any rate, we have reason to conclude 
from his general character, that it was a fault 
of inadvertence, one in which he was overtaken, 
and of which he afterwards bitterly repented." 
It was never repeated. Noah's prophecy was 
probably not uttered till near the close of his 
life — a presumption strengthened by the mention 
of his death immediately after. 

And he was uncovered within his 
tent ; lit., uncovered himself — an act not un- 
frequently accompanying drunkenness (Lam. 4 : 
21 ; Hab. 11 : 15, 16), and one considered among the 
Hebrews, as among all right-thinking races, 

highly Shameful (Isa. 3 : 17 ; Jer. 13 : 22 ; EaSc. 16 : 37). 

22. And Ham, the father of Canaan, 
saw the nakedness of his father. Ham's 

sin lay not in his seeing his father's nakedness, 
which might have been accidental, but in the 
evidently unfilial and jeering pleasure with 
which he saw and reported the same to his 
brethren. 

23. Took a garment; lit., the garment 
(possibly the garment which Noah had thrown 
off) ; the upper garment that was also used (by 
the poor) for a covering at night (Exod. 22 : 26 ; 
Deut. 24 : 13). Shem and Japheth, with a rever- 
ential modesty which did not belong to Ham, 



1 The Talmud has the proverb : " If wine moves in knowledge moves out." 



Ch. IX.] 



GENESIS 



97 



24 And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew 
what his younger son had done unto him. 

25 And he said, Cursed be Canaan ; a servant of 
servants shall he be unto his brethren. 

26 And he said, Blessed be the Lord God of Shern ; 
and Canaan shall be his servant. 



24 and they saw not their father's nakedness. And 
Noah awoke from his wine, and kuew what his 

25 youngest son had done unto him. And he said, 

Cursed be Canaan ; 

A servant of servants shall he be unto his 
brethren. 

26 And he said, 

Blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem ; 
And let Canaan be his servant. 



went not forward to see their father's shame, 
but backward to hide it. 

25. Cursed be Canaan. It is not easy to 
see why Canaan was cursed, while it was Ham 
who appears to have sinned. Different explana- 
tions have been proposed. Some commentators 
see here simply the visiting of the sins of the 
fathers on their children (Kxod. 20 : 5). But why 
on only one of the children ? Why on the de- 
scendants of Canaan, and not on those of Cush, 
Mizraim, and Phut, the other sons of Ham 
(10 : 6) ? Others discover a fitness in the suffer- 
ing of Canaan, the youngest son of Ham, for 
the sin of Ham, the youngest son of Noah — an 
insufficient reason for the cursing of any per- 
son. Others, again, have supposed that Noah's 
malediction was really directed against all the 
sons of Ham, but that the portion that affected 
Canaan only was preserved in order to inspire 
the Israelites in their wars against the Canaan- 
ites; and still others, that an error has crept 
into the text, which should read : ' ' Cursed be 
Ham, the father of Canaan," a supposition un- 
supported by manuscript authority and wholly 
inadmissible. 

The difficulty would be greatly relieved if it 
could be shown, as many believe, that Canaan 
was the chief offender in the matter — that he 
first saw the shame of his grandfather, and told 
it to his father, and led in the mockery that fol- 
lowed. Considerable plausibility is given to 
this view by a tradition among the Jews to the 
same effect, and especially by the rendering 
" grandson" for " son " in ver. 24, which mean- 
ing the latter word sometimes has, as in 29 : 5 
and 2 Sam. 19 : 24. 

The best explanation, however, of the words 
is that which regards them as prophetic. Noah, 
foreseeing the future character and destiny of 
Canaan's descendants, made the act of Ham the 
occasion of the prediction which he uttered 
concerning them. In Ham's want of modest 
shame there was disclosed a sensualism, in 
which Noah's prophetic glance saw the charac- 
teristics of Canaan and his descendants, and 
the debasement that would surely follow. Ham 
was punished in Canaan, his son — one of the 
keenest afflictions that can come upon a father. 
In Canaan and his posterity there was a per- 
G 



petuation of his father's character and vices, 
which were prophetically anticipated — not 
caused — by the curse which Noah pronounced. 
The names of Canaan's descendants are given in 
10 : 15-19. Their history, as recorded in Scrip- 
ture, shows them to have been, from a very 
early period, abominably depraved and wicked 
(see Lev. 18:24-30). "The longsuffering of God 
did not hasten their perdition. He allowed them 
to grow and prosper during the ten generations 
from Noah to Abraham, and the five following 
centuries from Abraham to Joshua. But their 
evil deeds accumulated, and they forfeited the 
land which their vices had contaminated." 

A servant of servants— a mode of express- 
ing the superlative in Hebrew (Ges. § 119, 2 ; comp. 
Ecci. 1 : 2) — shall he be unto his brethren. 
This prophecy began to be fulfilled in the time 
of Joshua, when the Canaanites were partly 
exterminated and partly reduced to the lowest 
form of slavery by the Israelites, who belonged 

tO the family Of Shem (Josh. 9 : 23 ; comp. Judg. 1 : 28, 

30, 33, 35) ; and it was subsequently fulfilled when 
those that remained of the Canaanites were 
reduced by Solomon (1 Kings 9 : 20, 21). Further, 
the Phoenicians, Carthagenians, and Egyptians, 
who all belonged to the family of Canaan, were 
subjected by the Japhetic Persians, Macedo- 
nians, and Romans. Keil thinks that as Ham 
had no share in Noah's blessing, either for him- 
self or his other sons, his whole family was 
included by implication in the curse, though it 
fell most heavily on Canaan ; a supposition con- 
firmed by history, since from the earliest ages 
till now Ham's posterity in general has been in 
slavish subjection to the Shemites and Japheth- 
ites. 

26. Blessed, he the Lord God, the God, 
of Shem. The better treatment of Noah by 
Shem and Japheth, as compared with that by 
Ham, foreshadowed the better future of their 
posterity. Noah, prophetically viewing the 
blessings which were to come upon Shem, thinks 
of their divine Source and, instead of wishing 
good to Shem, breaks forth in devout thanks- 
giving to the God of Shem, just as Moses (Dent. 
33 : 20) f instead of blessing Gad, blesses him 
"that enlargeth Gad." The words imply that 
Jehovah was to be the God of Shem in a very 



98 



GENESIS 



[Ch. X. 



27 God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell 
in the tents of Shem ; and Canaan shall be his serv- 
ant. 

28 And Noah lived after the flood three hundred 
and fifty years. 

29 And all the days of Noah were nine hundred 
and fifty years : and he died. 



27 God enlarge Japheth, 

And let him dwell in the tents of Shem ; 
And let Canaan be his servant. 

28 And Noah lived after the flood three hundred 

29 and fifty years. And all the days of Noah were 
nine hundred and fifty years : and he died. 



CHAPTER X. 



1 NOW these are the generations of the sons of 
Noah; Shem, Ham, and Japheth: and unto them 
were sons born after the flood. 



1 NOW these are the generations of the sons of 
Noah, Shem, Ham and Japheth : and unto them 
were sons born after the flood. 



special sense. " Because Jehovah is the God of 
Shem, Shem will be the recipient and heir of all 
the blessings of salvation which God, as Jeho- 
vah, bestows on mankind " (Keil). The poster- 
ity of Shem were long distinguished above all 
the other nations for their religious privileges, 
and eventually from him came the promised 
Messiah, in whom all the families of the earth 

are blessed (Ps- Ui ■ 15; comp. Jer. 31 : 33). 

27. God. The use of God (Elohim) here 
affords no proof that a Jehovistic document was 
revised by an Elohistic author, nor that ver. 
20-27 should be assigned (Davidson) to his 
redactor. The change of name is sufficiently 
explained by the fact that " Jehovah, as such, 
never was the God of Japheth's descendants, 
and that the expression would have been as 
manifestly improper if applied to him as it is in 
its proper place applied to Shem " (Quarry). 1 

Enlarge Japheth ; lit., make room for one 
that spreads abroad. The words form a paro- 
nomasia — both the verb and its subject being 
related to the root nj^3, pathah, to spread 
abroad, the reference being to the remarkable 
increase both of the progeny and the territories 
of the Japhetic nations. More than half the 
human race has sprung from Japheth. His 
descendants occupy the whole of Europe and 
America, and a considerable part of Asia. Of 
all colonizers, the Anglo-Saxon Japhethite is 
the greatest. 2 

And he shall dwell in the tents of Shem. 
It has been a question whether "God" or 
"Japheth" should be taken as the subject of 
"dwell." One reference is grammatically as 
correct as the other. The latter view, however, 
is to be preferred, because otherwise (1) these 
words would substantially repeat the blessing 
already given to Shem ; (2) they would restrict 



to Shem the blessing which the context shows 
should be unrestricted to Japheth; and (3) 
" his servant " at the end of the verse can prop- 
erly apply to Japheth (that is, to his descend- 
ants) only. 

The words, dwell in the tents of Shem, are not 
to be taken as prophetic of the conquest of Shem 
by Japheth, as some suppose ; they point rather 
to the friendly relations which should exist 
between the Shemitic and Japhetic races, and 
to the participation by the latter in all the 
religious privileges of the former (12 : 3 ; isa. 2 : 2, 
3). They " had a most apposite and beautiful 
fulfilment when the Gentile races of Japheth 
came in as proselytes to the Hebrew commun. 
ion, but far more when in the Christian age 
the Jews were broken off from the old stock 
that the Gentiles might be grafted in, and . . . 
may be almost said to have taken possession of 
the deserted tents of Shem as their own through 
all the Christian centuries to this hour. All 
Protestant Christendom of Japheth's line is this 
day fully at home in the tents of Shem" 
(Cowles). 

28, 29. And Noah lived after the flood 
three hundred and fifty years. These two 
verses form the natural conclusion of chap. 5, 
from which they are disjoined in order to insert 
the history of the life of Noah. According to 
the Hebrew chronology, Noah lived to the fifty - 
eighth year of the life of Abram. 



Chap. 10. 1-32. The Generations of 
the Sons of Noah. From the history of Noah, 
the sacred writer now proceeds to the genealogy 
of his sons. The contents of this chapter are 
anticipated by God's command to Noah and his 
sons (9 : 1, 7) to multiply and replenish the 
earth, and by the statement (ver. 19) that by the 



1 Says Keil : "This blessing was desired by Noah, not from Jehovah, the God of Shem, who bestows 
saving spiritual good upon man, but from Elohim, God as Creator and Governor of the world ; for it had 
respect primarily to the blessings of the earth, not to spiritual blessings ; although Japheth would 
participate in these as well, for he should come and dwell in the tents of Shem." 

2 Murphy thinks the expansive power of Japheth " refers not only to the territory and the multitude 
of the Japhethites, but also to their intellectual and active faculties. The metaphysics of the Hindus, the 
philosophy of the Greeks, the military prowess of the Romans, and the modern science and civilization of 
the world are due to the race of Japheth." 



Ch. X.] 



GENESIS 



99 



three sons of Noah was the whole earth over- 
spread. The genealogical table here presented 
is the most ancient ethnological document that 
has come down to us — a document of inestimable 
value, whether viewed from a geographical, a 
political, or a theocratic standpoint. It is sus- 
tained by the historic investigations of all sub- 
sequent times. All historic science does it 
homage. 

The authenticity and genuineness of this 
register are guaranteed by the chronicler (i 
chron. i : 1-23 ) ? in whose time, as Havernick has 
justly remarked, " nothing more was known 
from antiquity concerning the origin of nations 
than what Genesis supplied." Its historic 
truthfulness is also strikingly authenticated by 
the accredited results of modern ethnological 
science, which, on the basis of a careful analysis 
of facts, has divided mankind into three primi- 
tive groups (Shemitic, Aryan, and Turanian), 
corresponding to the threefold arrangement of 
this record, "allocating to the Indo-European 
family, as Moses has done to the sons of Japheth, 
the principal races of Europe, with the great 
Asiatic race known as Aryan ; to the Shemitic, 
the Assyrians, Syrians, Hebrews, and Joktanite 
Arabs, which appear among the sons of Shem 
in the present table ; and to the Turanian, the 
Egyptians, Ethiopians, Southern Arabs, and 
early Babylonians, which the primitive ethnolo- 
gist of Genesis also writes among the sons of 
Ham." 

The ancient Egyptians, Assyrians, and Baby- 
lonians preserved a registry of the nations and 
countries which they touched in their commer- 
cial and military expeditions; but, asDelitzsch 
points out, " where these registries purpose to 
be universal, they either lose themselves in the 
fabulous, or return directly to their own people. 
Nowhere is found a survey of the connection of 
nations that can be compared with the ethno- 
logical table of the Bible, nowhere one so uni- 
versal in proportion to its horizon, and so 
all-comprising, at least with regard to its pur- 
pose." 

This genealogy traces the origin of all nations 
to Noah. The flood, which was sufficiently uni- 
versal to submerge the man-inhabited portion 
of the world, had swept away the entire race 
with the exception of Noah and his family. 
Some there are, indeed, who contend that the 
dissimilarity of the races of men shows them to 
have descended from different primitive stocks ; 
but the inquiries of naturalists and physiolo- 
gists go to prove that all the varieties of man- 
kind constitute a single species, and are dedu- 



cible from a single human pair. " Whether 
Chaldean or Phoenician, Egyptian or Arabian, 
Greek or Roman, Mongol or Tartar, Indo-Ger- 
inanie, Celtic, Belgic, or Briton— all find the 
germ of their nationality in this wonderful chap- 
ter, and all concur to swell and substantiate the 
proof that the human race sprang from Noah, 
and that we have no occasion to look for pre- 
Adamic men or for tribes that escaped the flood 
and have no pedigree among the sons of Noah" 
(Cowles). 

To these physiological considerations may be 
added the proof to be drawn from human lan- 
guage. Man is distinguished from all other 
animals by the possession of articulate speech ; 
and the testimony of the most distinguished 
philologists is that the evidence of comparative 
grammar, so far as it goes, favors the original 
unity of human language. 

In respect of origin, this chapter puts no dif- 
ference between the descendants of Shem who 
was blessed and the descendants of Ham who 
received the curse — they are brethren. The 
unity of the race as thus exhibited constitutes 
the true basis of a universal human brother- 
hood, and is intimately bound up with the plan 
of redemption. As all nations are here seen to 
have the same ancestry, so all are ultimately to 
share in the blessings coming through the seed 
of Abraham (12 : s) ( toward whom the whole 
catalogue converges. Says Delitzsch : ' ' This 
universal survey serves as a significant finger- 
post to direct attention to the fact that the 
limitation of salvation is but a means to its 
future unlimited freedom." 

The enumeration of the descendants of the 
sons of Noah given in this chapter does not in- 
clude all the nations of the old world. Several 
names familiar in later times find no place 
therein — a proof of its high antiquity. Thus 
Sidon is mentioned (▼«■. 15, 19), but not Tyre, 
which in David's time had outstripped it ; nor 
is there any allusion to the Indians (Esther 1 :i), 
the Arabians (i«a. 21 : 13), the Chinese (isa. 49 ■. 12) 
the Minni (Jer. 51 : zi) f or the Persians. No in- 
formation is given concerning the tribes of 
Moab, Ammon, Ishmael, Edom, Amalek, be- 
cause their descent is subsequently stated ; and 
the names of aboriginal races, like the Emim, 
Anakim, Eephaim, Horim, Zamzummim, and 
Avim (Deut. 2) are omitted because they had 
almost or quite disappeared in the time of 
Moses. Havernick and Keil think that Moses 
grounded his genealogical record on a tradition 
handed down from the time of Abraham. 
Josephus considers the names to be generally 



100 



GENESIS 



[Ch. X. 



2 The sons of Japheth ; Gomer, and Magog, and 
Madai, and Javan, and Tubal, and Meshech, and 

Tiras. 



2 The sons of Japheth ; Gomer, and Magog, and 
Madai, and Javan, and Tubal, and Meshech and, 



those of persons, but allows that many are 
ethnic in form, for example, those which end 
in the Hebrew im, or in the English ite (ver. 
16-18). There seems to be an intermixture of 
personal and ethnic names, and the one form 
passes sometimes into the other, for thus in ver. 
15 we read that " Canaan begat Sidon his first- 
born," but in ver. 19 the border of the Canaanites 
is given from Sidon, which now stands for the 
city. 

The order of the generations of the sons of 
Noah here followed is not the usual one — Shem, 
Ham, and Japheth (ver. 32; 6:io ; 9:18), but 
Japheth, Ham, and Shem. Japheth is men- 
tioned first, not because he was the eldest of the 
three, although that was probably true (see on 
ver. 32 ) ; but as being the farthest removed from 
the theocratic center. Ham comes next because 
through Canaan, Mizraim, and Cush he is more 
closely connected with the Shemites than with 
Japheth, and in order to clear the way for the 
mention of Shem's posterity, the most impor- 
tant of the three, according to the practice of the 
sacred writer, first to dispose of the collateral 
lines (see an example in the treatment of the 
Cainites before Seth, chaps. 4 and 5) before 
proceeding with the main line. 

The number of the nations here enumerated 
is seventy, not including Nimrod (ver. 8), which 
is the name of a person, namely, from Japheth, 
fourteen ; from Ham, thirty ; from Shem, 
twenty-six. This was also the number of 
Jacob's family when they went down into 

Egypt (46 : 27 ; Exod. 1:5; Deut. 10 : 22 ) ; which num- 
ber was perpetuated in the representative body 

Of Seventy elders (Exod. 24 : l, 9 ; Num. 11 : 16, 24, 25). 

This numerical correspondence between the 
families of Israel and the families of mankind, 
which are to be blessed through their instru- 
mentality (12 : 3), appears to be intimated in . 
Deut. 32 : 8 : " When the Most High gave to 
the nations their inheritance, when he separated 
the children of men, he set the bounds of the 
peoples, according to the number of the children 
of Israel." It is also frequently referred to by 
the rabbins, as in the following passage (quoted 
by Lightfoot, Heb. Exercit. on Luke 3 : 36) from 
the book of Zohar : " Seventy souls went down 
with Jacob into Egypt, that they might restore 
the seventy families dispersed by the confusion 
of tongues." 

For vindication of the literary unity of this 
chapter as against its altogether arbitrary par- 



tition by the critics, see Green, Unity of 
Genesis, pp. 133-142. 

2. The sons of Japheth. As Japheth 
(the Iapetus of the Greeks and Romans) is the 
progenitor of the Greeks, it is not surprising 
that Greek legends should make Iapetus the 
progenitor of the human race. 

Gomer. His descendants were the Kimme 
rians (Homer, Od., XL, 14), or ancient Celts 
whose earliest known seat was the Tauric Cher 
sonese, and the regions north of the Danube 
whence they spread to the west, till Germany 
France, and Britain were peopled by them 
They are known as the Gaels in Ireland and 
Scotland, and the Cymrie in Wales. In Ezek. 38 
6 Gomer is mentioned as an ally of Gog of Magog. 

Magog is generally thought to stand for the 
widespreading nomadic nation called by the Per- 
sians Saka, and by the Greeks Scythians. They 
dwelt between the Caucasus and Caspian Sea, and 
in the country now called Tartary and Asiatic 
Russia. In Ezek. 38 : 2, 3; 39 : 1 their king 
is called Gog, which seems to have been an ap- 
pellative name, like the titles Pharaoh, Ptolemy, 
and Caesar. Ezekiel foretells their complete de- 
struction (38 : 2-23) ; and a similar prophecy Ls 
uttered by John (Rev. 20 : 8-10) f in which he de- 
scribes a combination of powerful worldly 
forces against the church of God, and their 
final overthrow. 

Madai. Called Medes by the Greeks (Jos., 
Ant., I., 6, 1). They were long subject to As- 
syria; afterward an independent kingdom (isa. 

13 : 17 ; 21 : 2 ; Jer. 25 : 25 ; 51 : 11, 28), which took 

Nineveh, 606 B. C. ; became subject to the Per- 
sians, 559 B. C. ; and with them overthrew 
Babylon, 538 b. c. (Dan. 5:28, si). To this 
country the Israelites were carried away cap- 
tive, 721 B. C. (2 Kings 17:6; 18:11). On tile 

Assyrian inscriptions they are called Mada. 

Javan ; ancestor of the Ionians in Asia 
Minor, and of all the Greeks (Jos., Ant., I., 6). 
The Greeks are called Javan in Isa. 66 : 19 ; 
Ezek. 27 : 13 ; Zech. 9 : 13 ; Dan. 8 : 21 ; and the 
Chaldee paraphrase interprets Javan by Mace- 
donia. The Athenians are called Iaones in II. 
XIII. , 685, and jEschy., Prom., 175, 561. The 
name is also found in the Assyrian tablets, as 
Javanu. 

Tubal and Meshech are always (except 
in Isa. 66 : 19 and Ps. 120 : 5) associated in 

Scripture (Ezek. 27 : 13 ; 32 : 26 ; 38 : 2, 3 ; 39 : l). They 

are usually identified with the Tibareni and 



Ch. X.] 



GENESIS 



101 



3 And the sons of Gomer ; Ashkenaz, and Riphath, 
and Togarmah. 

4 And the sons of Javan ; Elishah, and Tarshish, 
Kittim, and Dodanim. 

5 By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided 
in their lands ; every one after his tongue, after 
their families, in their nations. 



3 Tiras. And the sons of Gomer ; Ashkenaz, and 

4 Riphath, and Togarmah. And the sons of Javan ; 
Elishah, and Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim. 

5 Of these were the isles of the nations divided in 
their lands, every one after his tongue; after 
their families, in their nations. 



Mbschi, who inhabited the hill country on the 
southeast of the Black Sea, the Tibareni east of 
the Theruiodon in Pontus, and the Moschi 
between the sources of the Phasis and Cyrus. 

Tiras ; supposed ancestor of the Thracians. 
Dillinann, however, questions the suitability of 
the identification, on the ground that the Thra- 
cians, as thus designated, would be already in- 
cluded in the Gomer group. Some trace the 
name in the Turitai (Herod., IV., 51), that is, 
the people dwelling on the Tiras (the Dniester). 

Of only two of these sons of Japheth, namely, 
Gomer and Javan, are their descendants further 
traced. 

3. The sons of Gomer, Ashkenaz. 
Sbme think that the descendants of Ashkenaz 
settled in Bithynia, Troas, and the Lesser 
Phrygia, and discover traces of the name in the 
Sinus Ascanius, and Ascanius Lacus. Knobel 
regards the name as a compound, meaning the 
As-race ; whence may have originated the term 
Asia, which was afterward applied to the whole 
eastern part of the world. As, however, in Jer. 
51 : 27 Ashkenaz is joined with Ararat and 
Minni, provinces of Armenia, their original 
seat was probably in or near Armenia, toward 
the Caucasus and Black Sea ; which from it, as 
some think, may have been called the Sea of 
Ashkenaz, pronounced by the Greeks Axenos, 
and afterward changed to Euxeinos. 

Riphath (in 1 Chron. 1 : 6, by an error in 
Hebrew transcription, Diphath), perhaps Riph- 
eans, that is, Paphlagonians — the people in- 
habiting the Biphean mountains, on the north 
of the Caspian. (See Jose phus.) 

Togarmah, mentioned in Ezek. 38 : G to- 
gether with Gomer, in the army of Gog ; and 
in Ezek. 27 : 14 after Javan, Tubal, and Meshek, 
as supplying horses and mules for the Tyrian 
traders. Armenia is probably meant, a part of 
which is celebrated for its horses. According 
to Moses Chorenensis, the Armenians consider 
themselves to be descended from Gomer ; repre- 
senting Haik, the founder of their race, as a son 
of Torgom. 

4. The sons of Javan; Elishah. As 
the purple with which Tyre adorned herself 
came from the isles of Elishah (Kzek. 27 : 7) this 



name may perhaps be traced in the ^Eolians 
and in the Elisa islands. 

Tarshish ; l connected with Tartessus, a 
city of the Phoenicians in the south of Spain, 
on the river now called the Guadalquivir, 
whither the Phoenicians were wont to traffic in 

large Ships (I Kings 10 : 22 ; 22 : 48 ; Ps. 48 : 7). De- 

1 litzsch, however, calls attention to the fact that 

; before the Phoenicians took advantage of the 

| mines of Tartessus, Phokseans from the Hellenic 

i land of Phokishad settled there (Herod., I., 168). 

Kittim, probably Citium in Cyprus, and 

also the whole island. In a wider sense the 

name seems to have embraced the colonies 

which peopled the shores of Greece and Italy 

(Isa. 23 : 1 ; Jer. 2 : 10 ; Dan. 11 : 30). In 1 Mac. 1 : 1 

Alexander the Great is said to be from the land 
of Chittim, and in 8 : 5, Perseus, king of Chit- 
tim, is said to have been overcome by the 

Romans (comp. Num. 24 : 24). 

Dodanim (written Rhodanimin the Samar- 
itan copy, and in 1 Chron. 1:7; but the weight 
of authority favors the reading Dodhanim, 
which is found in the Syriac, Chaldee, and 
Arabic versions, and in the Targum of Onke- 
los) ; identified by Mede with the Dodonseans 
in Epirus ; by Knobel with the whole Illyrian 
or North Grecian tribe ; by Delitzsch and 
Gesenius with the Dardani of Asia Minor, who 
were akin to the Ionians. Of these opinions, 
that which connects them with the Dardani- is 
perhaps the best. 

5. By (of) these, that is, the Japhethites 
already named, though the descendants of only 
two of Japheth's sons are given (comp. ver. 20 and 

")• 

Isles of the Gentiles, nations; sea-washed 
coasts as well as islands proper. The Hebrews 
applied the term to all those countries divided 
from them by the sea, or to which they went by 

Sea (Ps. 72 : 10 ; Isa. 11 : 11 ; 40 : 15 ; Jer. 2 : 10). 

Were divided (or divided themselves). 
Mede thinks that the word denotes an orderly 
division, an assignment to each nation and 
family of their particular lot or portion, and 
not an arbitrary choosing according to inclina- 
tion, though the former is suggested rather by 
the words that follow than by the verb itself. 



1 The Syriac often substitutes t for the Hebrew sibilant, thus turning Tarshish into Tartessus ; comp. 
Batansea for Bashan, Tyre for Zor, 



102 



GENESIS 



[Ch. X. 



6 And the sons of Ham ; Cush, and Mizraim, and 
Phut, and Canaan. 

7 And the sons of Cush ; Seba and Havilah, and 
Sabtah, and Raamah, and Sabtecha : and the sons 
of Raamah ; Sheba, and Dedan. 



6 And the sons of Ham ; Cush, and Mizraim, and 

7 Put, and Canaan. And the sons of Cush ; Seba, 
and Havilah, and Sabtah, and Raamah, and Sab- 
teca : and the sods of Raamah ; Sheba, and De- 



In Deut. 32 : 8 it is said " the Most High divided 
to the nations their inheritance " (comp. Acts 17 : 

26). 

6, Cush, the first son of Ham, is the name 
of a people of a reddish-brown color, dwelling 
south of Egypt and toward Abyssinia, between 
the Nile and the sea, and called Ethiopians in 
the narrower sense. In 2 : 13 and here it has a 
wider meaning, and is used to denote the in- 
habitants of the middle of Africa, a part of 
Arabia, and perhaps also the south of Asia. 
The descendants of Cush probably first settled 
in Arabia. Zipporah, the wife of Moses, is 
called a Cushite, though a Midianitish woman 
of Arabia (comp. Exod. 2 : 21 ; Num. 12 .- 1). Nimrod, 
a son of Cush (10 : 8) } could not have been an 
African (10 : 10). From Arabia some of the 
descendants of Cush emigrated into Ethiopia. 

Mizraim, Egypt — the country which reach- 
es, according to Ezek. 29 : 10 ; 30 : 6, from the 
northeastern fort of Migdol to the cataract and 
border town of Syene, near the Cushite bound- 
ary. The dual form of the word refers to the 
two halves into which the country was politic- 
ally and physically divided, to Upper and 
Lower Egypt, though the name is more gen- 
erally applied in Scripture to the latter (isa. n : 
ii; Jer. 44:1,15). The old Egyptian name is 
Kemi, and Egypt is called " the land of Cham " 
(p s . 105:23; 106:22). Egyptian mummies and 
pictorial representations show the Egyptians to 
have been, not black and having curly hair, but 
in their skull and facial outlines to have re- 
sembled the Caucasians, though darker in com- 
plexion. The Egyptian monuments show a 
marked distinction between the Ethiopians and 
the Negroes on the west of their country. 

Phut. This name occurs several times in the 
Old Testament, and generally in connection 
with the Egyptians and Ethiopians, sometimes 

With Persia and Lud (Jer. 46 : 9 ; Ezek. 27 : 10 ; 30 : 5 ; 

38 : 5 ; Nahum 3:9). The Septuagint in Jeremiah 
and Ezekiel always renders the word Libyans. 
So Josephus says (Ant., L, 6) that Phut colo- 
nized Libya, and that from him the people were 
called Phutites — the most generally received 
opinion. The Coptic name of Libya is Phaiat. 
Canaan settled in the country which bears 
his name. Its bounds are given in ver. 19. 
The fact that the Canaanites appear to have 
spoken a Semitic tongue, has been alleged as a 



reason by some why they should not have been 
of Hamitic descent. Possibly, however, they 
were of a different origin. Dillmann thinks it 
certain that they were immigrants from the 
south, from the neighborhood of the Persian 
Gulf (see Dillmann, p. 180, and the authorities 
he cites in favor of this view). Murphy sug- 
gests that the Canaanites may have come into 
Canaan as intruders, and followed the language 
of their predecessors. 

7. This verse give the names ot five sons and 
two grandsons of Cush. 

Seba, according to Josephus, a name of 
Meroe, an island formed by two tributaries of 
the Nile, on the borders of Egypt and Ethiopia 
(isa. 43 : 3 ; p s . 72 : 10). In Isa. 45 : 14 the Sabeans 
are called "men of stature," which agrees with 
what Herodotus (III., 20) says of the African 
Ethiopians. 

Havilah. Some confusion arises from the 
name of a grandson of Ham being the same as 
that of a descendant of Shem (ver. 29). Niebuhr 
and others have asserted the existence of a 
double Havilah, one founded by the descendant 
of Ham, and the other by that of Shem. Possi- 
bly their descendants may have intermingled 
and formed but one people, whose dwelling- 
place was Chawlan, the well-known fertile 
region of Yemen. Some identify the descend- 
ants of Havilah the son of Cush with the 
Avalitse on the coast of Africa, near the mouth 
Of the Red Sea (see under 2 : 11). 

Sabtah, of doubtful identification; perhaps 
Sabbatha or Sabota, the capital of Hadramant 
(the Hazarma veth of ver. 26), on the southern 
coast of Arabia. Raamah settled probably on 
the Arabian shore of the Persian Gulf, where 
was formerly a place called Regma, the form in 
which the Septuagint gives the name. In Ezek. 
27 : 22 it is mentioned along with Sheba as a 
place of rich Eastern traffic. 

Sabtecha, supposed by Knobel to have 
dwelt in Caramania, opposite to Eegma, on the 
other side of the Persian Gulf. 

From Raamah two peoples are given as off- 
shoots, Sheba and Dedan, in the former of 
which we see the Sabseans of Arabia Felix, and 
in the latter the wide region north of Sheba, 
gradually reaching by the advance of popula- 
tion to the southern limits of Edom. 
8-12. In these (parenthetical) verses the 



Ch. X.] 



GENESIS 



103 



8 And Cush begat Nimrod : he began to be a 
mightv one in the earth. 

9 He was a mighty hunter before the Lord, where- 
fore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter 
before the Lokd. 

10 And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, 
and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of 
Shinar. 



8 dan. And Cush begat Nimrod : he began to be 

9 a mighty one in the earth. He was a mighty 
hunter before the Lord : wherefore it is said, 
Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before the Lord. 

10 And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, 
and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land 



writer turns aside from the table of nations to 
notice the exploits of an individual— the founder 
of the first great empire of the world. 

8. And Cush begat Nimrod. Nimrod 
may not have been a son, but a more remote 
descendant of Cush, according to the Hebrew 
custom, which called any ancestor a father 
(Lute l : 32 ) } and any descendant a son. In only 
one other passage does the word occur — in 
Micah 5 : 6, where Assyria is called ' ' the land 
of Nimrod." The word (from T^D, maradk, to 
rebel) was probably applied originally as an 
epithet, and at length became used as a proper 
name. It has not yet been discovered in the 
Assyrian inscriptions. The Assyriologists iden- 
tify the Nimrod of the Bible with the Babylo- 
nian hero Izdubar (Schroder). 

He began to be (that is, became) a mighty 
one (gibbor, which word seems to refer more 
to power than to bodily strength. Bobertson 
gives it the same meaning as in Ps. 52 : 3, 
namely, proud, tyrannical) in the earth 

(comp. 6:4; Judg. 6 : 12 ; 11 : 1 ; 1 Sam. 9 : 1 ; 2 Kings 6 : 

i ; Ps. 33 : 16). By his courage, and perhaps the 
terror he inspired, he reduced all around him, 
voluntarily or involuntarily, to submission. 

9. He was a mighty hunter. 1 At first 
doubtless of wild beasts, but afterward of men 
as well. The former was suited to develop a 
taste and furnish a training for the latter. He 
probably proceeded gradually from hunting 
beasts to assaulting, oppressing, and subjugating 
his fellow-men. The original term for hunting 
("H¥, tsudh) is often used to express a violent 
invasion of the persons and rights of men (see 

1 Sam. 24 : 12 ; Lam. 3 : 52 ; Jer. 16 : 16), and persecutors 

and tyrants are also called in Scripture "fowl- 
ers" and "hunters" (Ps. 91 : 3; Lam. 4 : is). The 
Targum of Onkelos on 1 Chron. 1 : 10, informs 
us that Nimrod " began to be a mighty man in 
sin, a murderer of innocent men, and a rebel 
before the Lord." In the Jerusalem Targum it 
is written : " He was a hunter of the children of 
men in their languages, and he said unto them, 



Depart from the religion of Shem and cleave 
unto the institutes of Nimrod." Herder speaks 
of him as "a trapper of men by stratagem and 
force." Compare Milton's description : 
Hunting (and men, not beasts, shall be his game), 
With war, and hostile snare, such as refuse 
Subjection to his empire tyrranous. 

{Par. Lost, XII., 24-26). 

Before the Lord. This expression is 
probably added to give emphasis or the force of 

a Superlative (comp. Jonah 3:3; Acts 7 : 20), though 

some think it denotes open defiance and con- 
tempt Of Jehovah (comp. 6 : 11 ; 13 : 13.) 

10. The beginning of his kingdom ; 

the region over which he first ruled, as em- 
bracing the four cities here named. The lan- 
guage does not necessarily imply that Nimrod 
built any of the cities mentioned ; he may have 
simply conquered them. 

Babel ; elsewhere rendered Babylon, the 
Greek form of the word. The same name was 
given to the tower, which perhaps as a citadel, 
formed part of it. The name of the city is given 
also to the province of which it is the capital 
(ps. 87 : 4; 137 : i), and in Micah 5 : 6 Babylon 
seems meant by " the land of Nimrod." It 
reached its highest splendor under Nebuchad- 
nezzar (Dan. 4 : 30), and under Belshazzar (Dan. 
5 : 3i) succumbed to the Medo-Persian power. 
Its remains have been discovered on the east 
side of the Euphrates near Hillah, where there 
is a square mound which the Arabs call 
" Babil." Babylon symbolizes the power of 
the world in its hostility to God (Keil), and 
answers to the Antichrist of the New Testament. 

Erech ; conjectured by Rawlinson and Keil 
to be the Orchoe of Ptolemy on the Euphrates, 
about eighty miles south of Babylon, on the 
site of the present ruins of Warka, and where is 
a mound called by the nomadic Arabs Irak. In 
the cuneiform inscriptions it is written Huruk. 

Accad ; not identified as yet. Delitzsch 
agrees with George Smith in regarding it as 
"the capital of Sargon, the great city Agadi, 



i The words here rendered, " a mighty hunter," are rendered in the Septuagint, " a giant hunter " ; in 
the Vulgate, " a valiant hunter " ; in the Arabic, " a terrible giant " ; in the Syriac, " a giant warrior" ; 
and in the Chaldee, " a valiant man." It is worthy of notice that Nimrod was deified after his death by 
the name of Bel-Nipru, or Bel-Nimrod, which is interpreted " God of the chase." In his honor also, tradi- 
tion says that the constellation Orion received from the Chaldeans the name handed down by the Arab 
astronomers, of "the giant." In Homer also Orion is a mighty hunter (Od., XL, 572, 575). 



104 



GENESIS 



[Ch. X. 



11 Out of that land went forth Asshur, and 
builded Nineveh, and the city Rehoboth, and Calah, 

12 And Resen between Nineveh and Calah : the 
same is a great city. 

13 And Mizraim begat Ludim, and Anamim, and 
Lehabim, and Naphtuhim, 



11 of Shinar. Out of that land he went forth into 
Assyria, and builded Nineveh, and Rehoboth-Ir, 

12 and Calah, and Resen between Nineveh and 

13 Calah (the same is the great city). And Miz- 
raim begat Ludim, and Anamim, and Lehabim, 



near the city of Sippara on the Euphrates, and 
north of Babylon." 

Calneh, called Calno in Isa. 10 : 9 (comp. 
Amos 6:2). Recent interpreters think its identi- 
fication with Ctesiphon, situated on the east 
bank of the Tigris, opposite to Seleucia, very 
doubtful. 

The land of Shinar; the country round 
about Babylon, the great plain or alluvial 
country watered by the Tigris and Euphrates, 
known in later times as Chaldea and Babylonia. 
In Isa. 11 : 11 it is distinguished from Assyria. 

11. Out of that land went forth Asshur, 
or better, he went forth into Assyria. This ren- 
dering, which is that of all the Targums and 
of most modern interpreters, is preferable to 
that of the Authorized version. The syntax ad- 
mits of Nirnrod being regarded as the subject 
treated of, and the general sense of the passage 
requires it. As no mention is made of the birth 
of Asshur, the son of Shem, till ver. 22, we 
should not expect to find his name introduced 
in this enumeration of the descendants of Ham. 
The writer's object seems here to be to describe 
the aggressive conduct of Nimrod, who, not con- 
tent with seizing on Babylonia, next pushed his 
conquests into Assyria (already partially colon- 
ized by the Asshurites, from whom it took its 
name) and built Nineveh and other strongholds, 
to secure his conquests. 1 

Nineveh, the ancient metropolis of Assyria, 
situated on the east bank of the Tigris, opposite 
the place where Mosul now stands on the west 
bank. After this mention of Nineveh, Scripture 
is silent concerning it till the time of Jonah, 
who lived in or before the reign of Jeroboam II. 
It is described in Jonah 3:3 as " an exceeding 
great city, of three days' journey," which de- 
scription is confirmed by Diodorus Siculus (II., 
26), who says it measured four hundred and 



eighty stadia in circumference. Its destruction 
was foretold by Jonah, and afterward by 
Nahum (3 : 12-17), and by Zephaniah (2 : 13-15), 
whose predictions were fulfilled when the city 
was taken by Nabopolassar of Babylon, and 
Cyaxares, king of the Medes, 606 B. C. or, ac- 
cording to the reckoning of some, 625 B. c. 
Nineveh flourished no more, and the very site 
of it was for a long time a matter of uncertainty. 

Rehoboth-Ir. Nothing certain is known 
of its position. Dillmann supposes that, accord- 
ing to its name, it formed a sort of suburb of 
Nineveh. 

Calah. Identified, by inscriptions found on 
the spot, with the great mound of Nimroud, 
about twenty miles south of Mosul. 

12. Resen is mentioned only here, and is 
not found on the inscriptions. Professor Sayce 
identifies it with Reseni. 

The same is a (the) great city. These 
words must be taken as referring, not to Resen 
alone, but to all the four cities, regarded as 
forming one great composite city or capital, to 
which the name of Nineveh, the principal, 
was given. 2 

13. Ludim. There was also a son of Shem 
named Lud (ver. 22) ; but these Ludim were an 
African people, perhaps belonging to Ethiopia, 
of Egyptian origin, celebrated as soldiers and 

archers (Isa. 66 : 19 ; Jer. 46 : 9 ; Ezek. 27 : 10 ; 30 : 5). 

They are to be distinguished from the Lydians 
of Asia Minor (ver. 22). 

Anamim ; identified by Knobel with an 
Egyptian name of the Delta. Ebers explains 
the word by " an-amu," the wandering Amu or 
Asiatic herdsmen who had settled on the Bucolic 
arm of the Nile, where there was pasture for 
their cattle. 

Lehabim ; the Libyans (Dan. 11 : 43), called 
Lubim in 2 Chron. 12 : 3 ; 16 : 8 ; not, however, 



1 As the Cainites were builders of cities before the Sethites, so were the descendants of Ham, the 
Cushites, before the Shemites. Recent linguistic and archeological investigations have tended to confirm 
in a remarkable manner the biblical account of the Hamitic origin of the oldest cities of Asia. 

2 Thus the Cushite race appears to have extended from above Egypt across the south and east of 
Arabia, and into Babylonia and Assyria. Moreover, the traces of them are found farther to the east, 
across the deserts of Beloochistan and Mekran, at the head of the Indian Ocean, to the peninsula of India, 
where, besides the evidence of language, their presence is shown by their characteristic temple towers or 
pagodas; in these countries they were mingled with the Aryan race. What, however, was the order of 
their migration, whether they first passed into Africa and Arabia, and thence into Babylonia to the 
former countries, or whether they followed both courses, are questions yet to be resolved (see P. Smith's 
Anc. Hist., Vol. I., pp. 45, 46). 



Ch. X.] 



GENESIS 



105 



14 And Pathrusim, and Casluhim, (out of whom 
came Philistim,) and Caphtorim. 

15 And Canaan begat Sidon his firstborn, and 
Heth, 

16 And the Jebusite, and the Amorite, and the 
Girgasite, 



14 and Naphtuhim, and Pathrusim, and Casluhim 
(whence went forth the Philistines), and Caph- 
torim. 

15 And Canaan begat Zidon his firstborn, and 

16 Heth ; and the Jebusite, and the Amorite, and 



to be confounded with the great Libyan tribe 
(Phut, ver. 6) from whom they are distinguished 
in Nahum 3 : 9. They seem to be the Rebu of 
the Egyptian monuments, and their ancient de- 
pendence on the Egyptians is stated by Manetho 
as a historical fact (Smith's Arte. Hist., Vol. I., 
P. 47). 

Naphtuhim. Bochart associates the name 
with Nephthus, the most northern portion of 
Egypt on the seashore. More probable is the 
identification proposed by Ebers, na-ptah, that 
is, those belonging to Ptah, or Hephaestus, the 
Memphitic Egyptians. 

14. Pathrusim, the inhabitants of Pathros, 
that is, of Upper Egypt, anciently called The- 
bais. Pathros is an Egyptian name for south- 
ern, mentioned in connection with Egypt (isa. 

11 : 11 ; Jer. 44 : 1, 15 ; Ezefc. 29 : 14 ; 30 : 14). 

Casluhim ; usually identified with the Col- 
chians on the Black Sea, because these, accord- 
ing to Herodotus, Strabo, and others were 
descendants of the Egyptians. 

Out of whom came Philistim, better, 
ivhence went forth the Philistines. As in Jer. 
47 : 4 and Amos 9 : 7, the Philistines are traced 
to the Caphtorim. Michaelis and others think 
that there has been a transposition in this verse, 
and that it ought to run : " and Caphtorim, out 
of whom came Philistim." The Samaritan 
text, however, and all versions read as the 
Hebrew. Some have therefore conjectured that 
the Casluhim and Caphtorim were tribes which 
intermingled, the former having been strength- 
ened by immigration from the latter, and that 
hence the Philistines may have been said to 
come from either. 

Caphtorim. Some commentators, on the 
authority of several ancient versions, under- 
stand the Cappadocians ; but the larger num- 
ber take the term to denote the Cretans. This 
supposition is favored by the Philistines being 
sometimes called Cherethim (Cherethites), as in 
1 Sam. 30 : 14 ; Ezek. 25 : 16 ; Zeph. 2 : 5, where 
the Septuagint and the Syriac versions render 
Cretans. In those passages Cherethim seems to 
be used synonymously with the Philistines. 

15. Of the eleven nations descended from 
Canaan, Sidon, or, Zidon, is styled " his first- 
born." The name is retained in the well- 
known town on the coast of Phoenicia, now 
called Saida, on its northern boundary. It was 



the oldest settlement of the Canaanites, and the 
only one of all the Phoenician towns known to 
Homer (II., VI., 290 ; XXIIL, 743 ; Ocl., IV., 84 ; 
XVII., 14). In Josh. 11 : 8 ; 19 : 28 it is called 
" Great Zidon." Even when Tyre had gained a 
reputation, the Phoenicians were still called 

SidoniailS (Deut. 3:9; Josh. 13 : 6 ; 1 Kings 11 : 5 ; 16 : 

si). Joshua assigned it to the tribe of Asher 
(Josh. 19 : 28) who never conquered it (Judg. 1 •. 31) } 
but to whom it sometimes proved a formidable 
enemy. 

Heth, ancestor of the Hittites, who were 
anciently a people of wide range and of great 
power. Dillmann refers to them as the " Cheta " 
of the Egyptian monuments, who in the period 
from the eighteenth to the twentieth dynasty 
were the ruling nation in Syria, between the 
Orontes and Euphrates, up to Asia Minor. 
Brought under the rule of Egypt by Thutmosis 
II., they soon penetrated farther south and be- 
came, as the Tel el-Amarna letters show, in the 
time of Amenophis III. and IV., dangerous foes 
to the Phoenician coast towns, up to that time 
under the sway of Egypt. By the campaigns 
of Seti I. and Ramses II. Palestine was again 
brought entirely under Egyptian control, but 
in North Syria the "Cheta" maintained then- 
supremacy. From the end of the eighth cen- 
tury B. c, when these territories were absorbed 
by the Assyrian empire, the name is applied in 
a more limited sense to the Hittites in Pales- 
tine ; and the author of this chapter seems to 
refer mainly, if not exclusively, to the " Cheta " 
in Canaan, who occupied the country around 
Hebron and Beersheba, and among whom Abra- 
ham dwelt for a time (23 : 7, 10, 20). 

16. The Jehusite. From him sprang the 
Jebusites who dwelt in and around Jebus, after- 
ward called Jerusalem, though some of them 
took up their abode in the mountains of Judah. 
Although Joshua defeated the Jebusites, they 
still retained possession of the stronghold of 
Jebus, which was not wrested from them till 
the time of David (2 Sam. 5:7). 

The Amorite was one of the most powerful 
of the tribes of Canaan. They dwelt in the hill 
country of Ephraim and Judah (Num. 13:29), 
and also between the rivers Arnon and Jabbok 
east of the Jordan (Num. 21 : 13 ; Deut. 4 : 47). The 
eastern Amo rites were conquered under Moses, 
who apportioned their possessions to Reuben, 



106 



GENESIS 



[Ch. X. 



17 And the Hivite, and the Arkite, and the Sinite, 

18 And the Arvadite, and the Zemarite, and the 
Hamathite : and afterward were the families of the 
Canaanites spread abroad. 

19 And the border of the Canaanites was from 
Sidon, as thou comest to Gerar, to Gaza ; as thou 
goest unto Sodom, and Gomorrah, and Admah, and 
Zeboim, even unto Lasha. 

20 These are the sons of Ham, after their families, 
after their tongues, in their countries, and in their 
nations. 



17 the Girgashite ; and the Hivite, and the Arkite, 

18 and the Sinite ; and the Arvadite, and the Zem- 
arite, and the Hamathite : and afterward were 
the families of the Canaanite spread abroad. 

19 And the border of the Canaanite was from Zidon, 
as thou goest toward Gerar, unto Gaza ; as thou 
goest toward Sodom and Gomorrah and Admah 

20 and Zeboiim, unto Lasha. These are the sons of 
Ham, after their families, after their tongues, in 
their lands, in their nations. 



Gad, and a part of Manasseh, and the western 
under Joshua. A remnant of them were finally 
made tributary by Solomon (i Kings 9 : 20, 21). 

The Girgasite. Their position is uncer- 
tain ; they seem, however, to have dwelt on the 
west Jordan (Deut. 6 : 1 ; Josh. 24 : ii ). Some trace 
the name in the Gergesenes. 

17. The Hivite. They dwelt at the foot of 
Hermon and Anti-libanus (Josh, n : s ; judg. 3 : s) ; 
also near to Shechem (34 : 2), and at Gibeon (Josh. 
9:7; ii : 19), the inhabitants of which made peace 
by stratagem with the children of Israel. 

The Arkite inhabited the city Area, or Arce, 
a Phoenician town at the northwestern foot of 
the Lebanon, whose ruins are still called Tel 
Arka. 

The Sinite, near to Arce in Mount Lebanon. 
They had a strong fortress called Sinna, in the 
neighborhood of Arce. 

18. The Arvadite ; the inhabitants of 
Aradus, a Phoenician city built on a rocky 
island three miles from the north Phoenician 
coast. The prophet Ezekiel speaks of the 
Arvadites as experienced mariners and brave 
soldiers, rendering great service to Tyre (Ezek. 
27 : 8, ii). Arvad is frequently found on the 
Assyrian inscriptions Ar-va-da, Aruada. 

The Zemarite ; a people of Phoenicia, 
whose city Simyra, or Simrah, near the river 
Eleutherus on the seacoast, is mentioned by 
Strabo (XVI., p. 518) and in the Tel el-Armana 
tablets. 

The Hamathite. Their city Hamath was 
situated on theOrontes in Syria, on the northern 
frontier of the Holy Land (Num. 13 : 21 ; 34 : 8) ; 
called Epiphania by the Greeks (Jos., Ant., I., 
6, 2), and identical with the present Hamah, 
with its one hundred thousand inhabitants 
(Keil). Both the town and its territory were 
conquered in the time of Hezekiah by the As- 
syrians (2 Kings 17 : 24 ; 18 : 34 ; 19 : 13 ; Isa. 10 : 9 ; 11 : 11), 

and afterward by the Chaldeans (Jer. 39 : 5). 

And afterward were the families of 
the Canaanite spread abroad ; as indi- 
cated in the following verse. 



19. The Canaanite, here and in ver. 19, must 
be taken in its narrowest sense, as excluding 
the Phoenicians and Syrians. 

As thou comest to (goest toward) Gerar. 
Gerar was the residence of the Philistine king 
Abimelech, and probably the birthplace of Isaac 
(20 : 1). The border of the Canaanite, as 
here described, extends on the western side, 
from Zidon southward to Gaza, and thence from 
west to east to Lasha, which is generally sup- 
posed to be Callirrhoe, situated to the northeast 
of the Dead Sea, and celebrated for its hot sul- 
phurous springs, though some take Lasha to be 
only a variation of Laish and Leshem, near the 

SOUrceS Of the Jordan (Judg. 18 : 7 ; Josh. 19 : 47). 

Gaza was the most southern town of the 
Philistines, and, as the name imports, a strong 
fortress, situated on a lofty mound. 

Sodom was the capital city of Pentapolis 
(14 : 2), in the vale of Siddim, and for some time 
the dwelling-place of Lot (13 = 12, 13), destroyed 
by fire from heaven with the three other cities 
next mentioned (19:24; Luke 17 : 29), and after- 
ward overflowed by the waters of the Jordan, 
which some think there formed the Dead Sea, 
or lake of Sodom. 1 

Gomorrah was probably the most consider- 
able of the five cities except Sodom, and next 
to Sodom in wickedness. 

Admah (I* : 2, 8 ; Deut. 29 : 23 ; Hosea 11 : 8). 
Zeboim (l* : 2 ; 19 : 24, 25; Deut. 29 : 23). Euse- 

bius and Jerome speak of it as a city extant in 
their time, on the western shore of the Dead 
Sea ; therefore, after the time of Lot and Abra- 
ham, a city must have been built near where 
Zeboim was before. In 1 Sam. 13 : 18 mention 
is made of the valley of Zeboim, and in Neh. 
11 : 34 of Zeboim, a city of Benjamin. 

20. The Hamites are here summed up in the 
usual form. They seem to have been the pio- 
neers in material civilization. They penetrated 
as far north as Crete, Phoenicia, and Syria ; 
occupied Africa and a certain portion of Asia 
along the eastern coast of the Mediterranean, 
in the south of Arabia, about the lower valley 



1 This account is confirmed by Tacitus (Hist, V., 7), who says " that the plains on the site of the Dead 
Sea were once fertile and occupied by great cities, and were set on fire by lightning from heaven," 



Ch. X.] 



GENESIS 



107 



21 Unto Shern also, the father of all the children of 
Eber, the brother of Japheth the elder, even to him 
were children born. 

22 The children of Shern ; Elani, and Asshur, and 
Arphaxad, and Lud, and Aram. 

23 And the children Aram ; Uz, and Hul, and 
Gether, and Mash. 

24 And Arphaxad begat Salah ; and Salah begat 
Eber. 

25 And unto Eber were born two sous : the name 
of one was Peleg ; for in his days was the earth di- 
vided ; and his brother's name was Joktan. 



21 And unto Shern, the father of all the children 
of Eber, the elder brother of Japheth, to him 

22 also were children born. The sons of Shem ; 
Elam, and Asshur and Arpachshad, and Lud. 

23 and Aram. And the sons of Aram ; Uz, and 

24 Hul, and Gether, and Mash. And Arpachshad 

25 begat Shelah ; and Shelah begat Eber. And 
unto Eber were born two sons : the name of the 
one was Peleg ; for in his days was the earth 
divided ; and his brother's name was Joktan. 



of the Euphrates, and perhaps along the south 
of Asia ; founded the first empires in Babylonia 
and Egypt, and were remarkable for their skill 
and magnificence in architecture. They are 
supposed, moreover, to have been the first who 
introduced improvements into language, and 
their languages constituted an intermediate link 
between the primitive undeveloped Turanian 
(Mongolian) and the Shemitic (see P. Smith's 
Anc. Hist., Vol. I., pp. 44, 45). 

21. And unto Shem. Having traced the 
settlements of the descendants of Japheth and 
Ham, the sacred writer now passes to those 
branches of the human family in which the 
chief interest of the biblical narrative centers, 
and for whose sake principally this genealogical 
table has been inserted. 

The father of all the children of Eber. 
As Ham is specially called the father of Canaan 
(9 : 22 ) f as indicating the line of the curse, so 
Shem is here specially called " the father of all 
the children of Eber," as indicating the line of 
promise. Eber was the father, indeed, of two 
important tribes through Peleg and Joktan, 
namely, the Hebrews and Arabians ; but the 
more particular object of the writer was doubt- 
less to apprise the former of their descent from 
Shem through him from whom they received 
their name — Eber. Some, however, take Eber 
to be, not a proper name, but an appellation 
applied to the Hebrew nation, from the root 
1DJJ, 'abhav, "to pass over," as if the Hebrews 
were so called from their passing over the Eu- 
phrates in coming from the east to the land of 
Canaan. 

The brother of Japheth the elder ; that 
is, perhaps the elder of the two brothers of Ja- 
pheth, younger than Japheth, but older than 
Ham. 

22. Elam, the land and people on the east 
of the lower Tigris, south of Assyria and Media, 
north of the Persian Gulf. It formed part of 
the ancient Susiana, the modern Khuzistan, 
and was termed by the Greeks and Romans 

Elymais (U : 1, 9 ; Dan. 8:2; Ezra 4:9). In Acts 

2 : 9 the Elamites denote Jews descended from 
the exiles who were settled in that country. 



Asshur, the ancestor of the Assyrians, who 
were at first subject to Nimrod (ver. n), but at 
length founded a great Shemitic empire. 

Arphaxad, Arpachshad (Luke s : 36), is traced 
in Arrapachitis, which was a part of northern 
Assyria, near to Armenia. 

Lud, father of the Lydians in Asia Minor. 

Aram. As a geographical term, Aram sig- 
nifies "high region," and is generally applied 
to the territory between the Tigris and the 
Syrian coast of the Mediterranean [ethnolog- 
ically, the great Aramaean people] . Hence we 
read of Aram Naharaim (of the two rivers), 
Aram Dammesek(of Damascus), Aram Maakah, 
on the southwest border of Damascus, about the 
sources of the Jordan, Aram Beth Rechob in 
the same neighborhood, and Aram Zoba to the 
north of Damascus (24 : 10 ; 25 : 20 ; Deut. 23 : 4 ; 2 

Sam. 8 : 5 ; 1 Chron. 19 : 6 ; Hosea 12 : 12). 

23. Uz gave name to a tract of country (land 
of Uz, Job 1:1) in northern Arabia, between 
Palestine and the Euphrates. 

Hul, most probably a Syriac tract of country, 
near the sources of the Jordan. Dillmann iden- 
tifies it with Hule, a name that still attaches to 
Lake Merom in Galilee, and the marshy land 
around it. [But this identification is most 
doubtful.] 

Gether ; not identified. 

Mash. Probably his descendants inhabited 
Mount Masius, which lies to the north of Meso- 
potamia, and is an eastern branch of the great 
Tauric ridge. 

24. Shelah; not identified. 

Eber, the progenitor of the Hebrews, to 
which race Abraham belonged (see ou ver. 21). 
The separation, however, of Abraham from the 
posterity of Eber did not take place till five 
generations had passed away, which fact may 
account for its non-mention in this list of the 
children of Israel, though the most important 
branch of the Shemitic race ; they had not at 
first a distinct national existence. 

25. Peleg means division; a name given 
him because in his time occurred the dispersion 
referred to in 11 : 1-9, which was a dispersion 
according to language. This view is preferable 



108 



GENESIS 



[Ch. X. 



26 And Joktan begat Almodad, and Sheleph, arid 
Hazarmaveth, and Jerah, 

27 And Hadoram, and Uzal, artd Diklah, 

28 And Obal, and Abimael, and Sheba, 

29 And Ophir, and Havilah, and Jobab: all these 
were the sons of Joktan. 



26 And Joktan begat Almodad, and Sheleph, and 

27 Hazarmaveth, and Jerah ; and Hadoram, and 

28 Uzal, and Diklah; and Obal. and Abimael, and 

29 Sheba ; and Ophir, and Havilah, and Jobab : all 



to that of Conant and others who restrict the 
division spoken of to a partition of the land 
occupied by the descendants of Shem between 
the family of Peleg and that of his brother 
Joktan, when the latter migrated into the 
neighboring region of Arabia, leaving the for- 
mer in Mesopotamia. According to this view, 
" the earth " (haarets) here must be understood 
as in 9 : 19 ; 11 : 1, of the population of the 
earth as embracing mankind. Peleg's geneal- 
ogy is recorded and traced down to Abraham in 
11 : 18-26, and from Abraham to Christ in Matt. 1. 

Joktan is the reputed ancestor of Arabian 
tribes occupying the southern part of the pen- 
insula. The Arab genealogists call him Kach- 
tan, and regard him as the progenitor of the 
genuine Arabs in Arabia proper, as distinguished 
from the old prehistoric inhabitants on the one 
hand, and the Ishmaelites of the north on the 
other. 1 

26-29. These verses give the names of Jok- 
tan's sons, thirteen in number, who were pro- 
genitors of Arabian tribes, some of which have 
been identified, while others are as yet undis- 
covered, or have become extinct. 

26. Almodad. Some think this name has 
been preserved in that of Modadh, or (with the 
Arabic article) Almodadh, the reputed father 
of Ishmael's Arabian wife, and the chief of the 
Joktanite tribe Jorham. Bochart connects it 
with the Alloumaiotai of Ptolemy in the midst 
of Yemen. 

Sheleph, ancestor of a tribe identical with 
Salif or Sulaf in Arabia Felix, perhaps the 
Salapenoi mentioned by Ptolemy (6 : 7). 

Hazarmaveth is preserved in the Arabic 
orthography of the name Hadramaut, which 
still designates a people and district on the 
southwest coast of Arabia. 

Jerah is believed by Rawlinson to be repre- 
sented in a fortress named Yerakh, near Hadra- 
maut. 

27. Hadoram. His descendants were, per- 
haps, the Adramitse, a tribe of southern Arabia. 



Uzal is traceable in Awzal, the ancient name 
of Sanaa, the capital city of Yemen. 

Diklah. As in Aramaic and Arabic this 
word signifies a palm or grove of palms, it has 
been supposed to point to the Minsei, a people 
of Arabia Felix, whose country abounds with 
such trees. 

28. Obal and Abimael, concerning whom 
nothing is certainly known. 

Sheba, ancestor of a people near the Eed 
Sea, in the southwest part of Arabia Felix, sup- 
posed to be the country the queen of Sheba 

Came from (l Kings 10 : 1 ; Ps. 77 : 10 ; comp. Matt. 12 : 

42), rich in frankincense, spices, gold, and gems 

(1 Kings 10 : 10 ; Isa. 60 : 6 ; Jer. 6 : 20), 

29. Ophir marked the eastern goal of the 
land whence the fleet of Hiram and Solomon, 
after a three years' voyage, brought gold, pre- 
cious stones, sandalwood, silver, ivory, apes, 

and peaCOCks (I Kings 9 : 28 ; 12 : 22 ; 2 Chron. 8 : 18 ; 

9 : io), and whose gold became proverbial as fine 

gold (Ps- 45 : 10 ; Job 22 : 24 ; 28 : 16 ; Isa. 13 : 12 ; 1 Chron. 

29 : 4). Great diversity of opinion has existed as 
to its position. Its mention among the sons of 
Joktan, the rest of whom settled in Arabia, 
forms a strong argument in favor of placing 
Ophir there also. Delitzsch, however, affirms 
that antiquity knows nothing of an Arabian 
Ophir, and that a trace of the name cannot 
be found in South Arabia. He favors, conse- 
quently, Eitter's view that Ophir is the coast- 
land at the mouths of the Indus, the nearest 
Indian coast for the Phoenicians, and that a 
dispersion of the Joktanites as far as India 
must be assumed. Bochart meets the difficulty 
by supposing that there were two Ophirs, 
namely, this in Arabia, from Avhich David 
obtained gold (i Chron. 29 : 4), and another in 
India, with which Solomon traded (1 Kings 9 : 28 ; 

10 : 11). 

Havilah. This Havilah is identified by 
some with the Havilah of ver. 7, it being sup- 
posed that the Shemitic tribe intruded into the 
possessions of the Cushite (ver. 7). The exist- 



1 Says Geikie: "Those connected with Joktan wandered southwards towards Arabia, where they 
apparently joined a number of Cushite tribes who had already made it their home, forming thus a mixed 
people, proud of their connection with Cush ; who linked them more closely with the great patriarch 
Noah, than they had been under Eber, their own immediate head. The same course repeated itself at a 
later time, in a similar mingling of tribes springing from Abraham, with like Cushite peoples ; and in 
this way the occurrence of the same names in the descendants of Cush and of Abraham may be easily 
explained," 



Oh. XL] 



GENESIS 



109 



30 And their dwelling was from Mesha, as thou 
goest unto Sephar, a mount of the east. 

31 These are the sons of Shem, after their fami- 
lies, after their tongues, in their lands, after their 
nations. , ^ 

32 These are the families of the sons of Noah, after 
their generations, in their nations : and by these 
were the nations divided in the earth after the flood. 



30 these were the sons of Joktan. And their dwell- 
ing was from Mesha, as thou goest toward Se- 

31 phar, the mountain of the east. These are the 
sons of Shem, after their families, after their 
tongues, in their lands, after their nations. 

32 These are the families of the sons of Noah, 
after their generations, in their nations : and of 
these were the nations divided in the earth after 
the flood. 



CHAPTER XI. 



1 AND the whole earth was of one language, and 
of one speech. 

2 And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the 
east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar ; 
and they dwelt there. 



1 AND the whole earth was of one language and 

2 of one speech. And it came to pass, as they 
journeyed east, that they found a plain in the 



ence of an Arabian Havilah is proved by 25 : 18 ; 
1 Sam. 15 : 7. 

Jobab is unknown. His descendants were 
perhaps the same as the Jobaritse, or, according 
to Bochart, Jobabitse. 

30. Mesha was probably the western limit of 
the Joktanites, and Sephar, the eastern. The 
former is still unknown ; the latter seems to be 
well identified in Zafar, the anciently famous 
harbor and royal city of the Himyarite kingdom, 
still known as Isfor, on the southeast coast of 
Arabia. 



Chap. 11. 1-9. The Confusion of 
Tongues at Babel. 1 The closing words of 
the preceding chapter (ver. 32) prepare the way 
for the recital of the event which led to the 
division of the one race into many nations with 
different languages. That event was the proj- 
ect of building the city and tower of Babel — a 
project directly contravening the purpose of 
God in regard to the peopling of the earth by 
the descendants of Noah, since it aimed not 
at the dispersion of the race (9 : 1, 7, 19) but at its 
concentration, and for selfish ends. 

1. The whole earth must here be under- 
stood to mean the whole existing race of man- 
kind. 



Of one language and of one speech, 

lit., of one lip and one (kind of) words. These 
two terms lip, H3Kf, saphah, and words, Q , ")^ r (, 
debharim, are here used to signify what is ex- 
pressed by tongue, jiKH, lashon, in the preced- 
ing chapter (ver. 5, 20, 31 ) } and designedly so. 
The former denotes simple utterance or manner 
of speaking ; the latter, what is uttered — words 
and their various forms. Kaulen refers the 
former to the grammatical, the latter to the 
lexical, element. But while "lip" may be 
used for "a language" in the singular (isa. 19 : 
18; zeph. 3:9), the plural is always expressed by 

" tongues" (Isa. 66 : 18 ; Zech. 8 : 23). 

2. As they journeyed, from the east, 

better, eastwards, that is, from the standpoint of 
the writer ; or possibly from Armenia, their first 
home. The Hebrew word, D*7.j5D, meqqedhem, 
signifies not " from the east," as in the Author- 
ized version, nor "east," as in the Bevised, but 
"eastward," as in 2 : 8 and 13 : 11. From 10 : 
9, 10 it may be inferred that Nimrod was a prin- 
cipal leader in this movement, though there is 
no sufficient reason to confine it to him and the 
sons of Cush. The "they" seems co-extensive 
with "pi^n 73, hoi haarets, "the whole earth," 
of the previous verse, which stands for the 
whole race of man. 



1 Was the dispersion of the race the cause of the multiplication of languages, or was the multiplication 
of languages the cause of the dispersion of the race? These verses distinctly affirm the latter, and they 
ascribe the confusion of tongues to a judicial interposition of God. Yet some discovering, as they think, 
an inconsistency between 9 : 1-9, which traces the dispersion of mankind over the earth to an immediate 
divine intervention, and chap. 10 which explains it by the working of the natural laws which govern 
colonization and migration conclude, as their explanation of the matter, that the passages were by dif- 
ferent authors. But, as Professor Green has shown, " there is not the slightest inconsistency between the 
two passages. The explicit allusions to Babel and to the dispersion which took place there, in 10 : 10, 25, 
show that this transaction was before the mind of the writer of chap. 10. The writer simply proceeds in 
chap. 11 to detail in its proper place an additional fact connected with the peopling of the earth." De- 
litzsch concurs entirely with this view, showing that these two explanations of the origin of nations are 
perfectly compatible— that, according to 10 : 25, the dispersion of the population of the earth had its begin- 
ning in the days of Peleg, that is, according to 11 : 10, 12, 14, 16, in the fifth generation after the flood. He 
says: " The divine impulse to the origination of the nations, related 11 : 1-9, is not opposed to the preced- 
ing genealogic deduction, and it is not even necessary to assume with Dillmann that the extracts from J 
in 10 : 8, 10-12, must originally have stood after 11 : 1-9. It is not necessary because J might first give a 
survey of the world of nations derived from the three sons of Noah, in order thus to relate by way of sup- 
plement how it came to pass that genealogical became ethnological distinctions." 



110 



GENESIS 



3 And they said one to another, Go to, let us make 
brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had 
brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar. 

4 And they said, Go to, let us build us a city, and 
a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven ; and let 
us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad 
upon the face of the whole earth. 

5 And the Lord came down to see the city and 
the tower, which the children of men builded. 

6 And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, 
and they have all one language ; and this they be- 
gin to do : and now nothing will be restrained from 
them, which they have imagined to do. 

7 Go to, let us go down, and there confound 
their language, that they may not understand one 
another's speech. 



[Ch. XI. 



3 land of Shinar ; and they dwelt there. And 
they said one to another, Go to, let us make 
brick, and burn them throughly. And they had 
brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar. 

4 And they said, Go to, let us build us" a city and a 
tower, whose top may reach unto heaven, and 
let us make us a name ; lest we be scattered 

5 abroad upon the face of the whole earth. And 
the Lord came down to see the city and the 

6 tower, which the children of men builded. And 
the Lord said, Behold, they are one people, and 
and they have all one language ; and this is what 
they begin to do : and now nothing will be with- 
holden from them, which they purpose to do. 

7 Go to, let us go down, and there confound their 
language, that they may not understand one 



Land of Shinar. Babylonia (see on 10 : 10). 

3. Go to has here the force of an interjection 
and is equivalent to "up," "come on," as in 

Ver. 4, 7 (comp. Exod. 1 : 10 ; 2 Kings 5 : 4, 5). 

Let us make brick, and burn them 
thoroughly. The cohortative form of the 
verb is here employed, showing their intention 
to have been one of strong desire and deter- 
mination (Ges. g,48, 3). The soil of the Baby- 
lonian plain, which does not contain stone, is 
admirably adapted for bricks. Some of these 
were baked in the sun, others burned, the latter 
becoming as hard as stone, and more durable. 
They were about a foot square and from two to 
three inches in thickness, and no straw was used 
in their manufacture, as in Egypt (Exod. 1 : u? 5 : 
i). Millions of them are found in the ruins of 
Babylon and the other cities of Babylonia and 
Assyria. 

And slime had they for mortar. Slime 
is better rendered bitumen or asphalt. It is a 
mineral pitch, used as cement, for coating boats 
(Exod. 2 : 3) f etc. It abounds in the neighbor- 
hood of Babylon, and issues from the earth (i* = 
10 ). The Dead Sea, to the surface of which it 
often rises, is called from it the Lacus Asphal- 
titis. It is mentioned by Herodotus as employed 
in the building of Babylon (I., 179). Layard 
observes that it is almost impossible to separate 
the bricks which have been cemented with it. 

4. Let us build us a city and a tower; 
that is, a city with a tower or citadel included 
within its area. The latter would furnish a 
final retreat from an invading force. 

Whose top may reach unto heaven ; an 
hyperbole to denote a very lofty tower (comp. Deut. 
l : 28 ; 9 : l). The tower, though included within 
the city area, was yet distinct from it, as ap- 
pears from its separate mention here and in ver. 
8. Many have thought that its site was after- 
ward occupied by the temple of Belus (Herod. 
I., 181-183), the ruins of which are supposed to 
be identical with those in the mound called 
Birs Nimroud, near the site of Babylon. 



And let us make us a name. " Name " 
has here the meaning it bears in 1 Kings 4 : 31 
(Heb. text 5 : n), which reads literally : his name 
was in all the nations around. To "make 
one's self a name " is to get renown (comp. isa. 63 : 
12, M; Jer. 32 : 20). Possibly the words "Let us 
make us a name (Shem)," may have been, on 
the part of the family of Ham, a contemptuous 
disdain of the holier race of Shem. The tower 
was built, not, as Josephus says {Ant., I., 4, 2), 
for a place of safety in case the world should be 
drowned by the waters of another flood, for 
then it would have been built on a mountain 
and not on a plain, but for a vain-glorious pur- 
pose, to establish for themselves a name or repu- 
tation, and also to serve as a center of unity — a 
rallying-point to keep the people together — a 
national headquarters. 

5. The Lord came down to see ; an 
anthropomorphic expression (comp. ver. i) } simply 
implying that God took cognizance of the im- 
pious undertaking, and denoting that he would 
not condemn before examination. 

Which the children of men builded. 
Some commentators think, and perhaps cor- 
rectly, that "children of men" is used here in 
contrast to the " sons of God " (6 : 2), and im- 
plies that these latter took no part in the build- 
ing : and hence, also, they conclude that pious 
persons, chiefly the descendants of Shem in the 
line of Eber, retained among them the primitive 
language. 

6. This they begin to do, lit., this is their 
beginning to do, implying that this is only their 
beginning, and that if they are not restrained, 
they will go on and do still worse. 

7. Let US gO dOWn (see on 1 : 26). 

Confound their language. As in ver. 1, 
the Hebrew word for lip is here employed (let 
us confound their lip), though not with pre- 
cisely the same meaning. There, where "lip" 
is distinguished from "language," it means 
simply utterance ; here, where no such distinc- 
tion is made, what is uttered — spoken words. 



Ch. XL] 



GENESIS 



111 



8 So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence 
upon the face of all the earth : and they left off to 
build the city. „„,.,_, *. 

9 Therefore is the name ot it called Babel ; be- 
cause the Lord did there confound the language 
of all the earth : and from thence did the Lord 
scatter them abroad upon the face of all the 
earth. 



8 another's speech. So the Lord scattered them 
abroad from thence upon the face of all the 

9 earth : and they left off to build the city. There- 
fore was the name of it called Babel ; because 
the Lord did there confound the language of 
all the earth: and from thence did the Lord 
scatter them abroad upon the face of all the 
earth. 



What change was wrought in the words to pro- 
duce the confusion spoken of, Ave are not in- 
formed. Murphy thinks the stock of words 
was not affected, but that "several varieties of 
form" were given thern in place of their 
previously existing " one form." 

The one primitive language would not, in- 
deed, have remained stagnant and immobile 
without any miraculous divine interposition. It 
would by the natural law of growth and develop- 
ment common to all languages spoken by pro- 
gressive peoples, have become richer and more 
diversified in forms of expression. But it would 
have remained the same language, intelligible 
to all. The confusion spoken of here consisted 
in the destruction of the unity of the language — 
a confusion not explicable on natural grounds. 
Its only satisfactory solution is that which refers 
it to the same supernatural agency which gave 
language to man at the beginning. " This in- 
ward unity," says Keil, "had no doubt been 
already disturbed by sin, but the disturbance 
had not yet amounted to a perfect breach. This 
happened first of all in the event recorded here, 
through a direct manifestation of divine power, 
which caused the disturbance produced by sin 
in the unity of emotion, thought, and will to 
issue in a diversity of language, and thus by a 
miraculous suspension of mutual understand- 
ing frustrated the enterprise by which men 
hoped to render dispersion and estrangement 
impossible." 

8. The Lord scattered them abroad; 
thus defeating their design and compelling 
them to execute his command (9 : i, " ; comp. i : 
23). As this " scattering abroad " is mentioned 
as the execution of the Divine counsel, " Let us 
confound their language" (ver. ») f it may be 



fairly inferred that the confusion of tongues 
and the dispersion of nations were contempo- 
raneous events. They left off to build the 
city. Although not directly stated, it is yet 
implied that they quit building the tower also, 
since the building of the city and tower is 
spoken of as one undertaking (▼«. 5). 

9. Therefore is the name of it called 
Babel — from the root, ~>b 3, balal, to pour out, 
then to pour together, to confound. " Babel " is 
thus a memorial name, commemorative of the 
confusion of languages. 1 

Confound the language of all the 
earth. Comparative philology has not yet 
succeeded in tracing the different languages of 
the earth to the single language out of which 
they grew. It has shown, however, " that many 
different languages are grouped together by 
common affinities, as branches of the same fam- 
ily, all having the same original language for 
their common parent. Notwithstanding the 
great number and diversity of languages, they 
may all be traced to a very few original parent 
tongues." The difficulty lies in finding the one 
parent tongue from which sprang the various 
languages called respectively Semitic, Japhetic, 
and Hamitic. The success that has attended 
the efforts of philologists thus far makes this 
result hopeful. 

Scholars are now pretty unanimous in affirm- 
ing that the one primitive tongue could not 
have been Hebrew, but they have not made it 
clear that it was not a language closely related 
thereto. The fact that Aramaic was long the 
dominant language of the Euphrates Valley, 
and that it is closely allied to Hebrew, creates 
a presumption in favor of its being regarded, 
if not the very language that Noah spoke, 



1 The Scripture account of this confusion is more or less confirmed by heathen traditions. The Chal- 
deans themselves relate (Abydenus quoted by Eusebius) that "the first men, relying on their size and 
strength, raised a tower reaching toward heaven, in the place where Babylon afterward stood, but the 
winds assisting the gods brought the building down on the heads of the builders, out of the ruins of 
which Babylon itself was built. Before this event men had spoken the same tongue, but afterward by 
the act of the gods they were made to differ in their speech." Plato also reports a tradition that in the 
golden age men and animals had the same language, but too ambitiously aspiring to immortality, were, 
as a punishment, confounded in their speech by Jupiter" (Plato, in Politico). The Sibyl, says Josephus 
{Ant., I., 4, § 3), makes mention of this tower and of the confusion of languages, when she says: "When 
all men were of one language, some of them built a high tower, as if they would thereby ascend up to 
heaven, but the gods sent storms of wind, and overthrew the tower ; and gave every one his peculiar 
language, and for this reason it was that the city was called Babylon." 



112 



GENESIS 



10 These are the generations of Shem : Shem was 
a hundred years old, and begat Arphaxad two years 
after the flood : 

11 And Shem lived after he begat Arphaxad five 
hundred years, and begat sons and daughters. 

12 And Arphaxad lived five and thirty years, and 
begat Salah : 

13 And Arphaxad lived after he begat Salah four 
hundred and three years, and begat sons and daugh- 
ters. 

14 And Salah lived thirty years, and begat Eber : 



[Ch. XL 



10 These are the generations of Shem. Shem was 
an hundred years old, and begat Arpachshad two 

11 years after the flood : and Shem lived after he 
begat Arpachshad five hundred years, and begat 
sons and daughters. 

12 And Arpachshad lived five and thirty years, 

13 and begat Shelah: and Arpachshad lived after 
he begat Shelah four hundred and three years, 
and begat sons and daughters. 

14 And Shelah lived thirty years, and begat Eber : 



at least as belonging to the same family of 
languages. 1 

11 : 10-26. The Generations of Shem. 
10-26. The remaining verses of this chapter 
carry on the genealogical table of chap. 5, from 
Shem to Abram, the founder of the house of 
Israel, the ancestor of the promised seed. The 
table here presented is very similar to that. In 
both ten generations are given, the first begin- 
ning with Adam and closing with Noah, the 
second beginning with Shem and ending with 
Abram. In both the length of each person's 
life is reckoned from his own birth to the birth 
of his first son, and from that event to his death. 
The second table, however, exhibits a remark- 
able shortening of the duration of human Jife 
as compared with the first table, the age reached 
by Shem, e. g., the longest-lived of the postdi- 
luvians, being one hundred and seventy-seven 
years less than that attained by Lamech 
(Enoch, who was translated, is excepted), the 
shortest-lived of the antediluvians. 

In this table, and in that given in chap. 5, 
the Samaritan and Septuagint texts pursue a 
different method in calculating the ages of the 
persons mentioned from that employed in the 
Hebrew text. Reckoning from the birth of 
Shem, the Hebrew text gives four hundred 
and sixty-five years from that event to the 



call of Abram, the Samaritan text one thou- 
sand one hundred and fifteen years, and the 
Septuagint one thousand three hundred and 
forty-five years; that is to say, the interval 
from the birth of Shem to the call of Abram 
is lengthened in both texts; in the Samari- 
tan by six hundred and fifty years, in the Sep- 
tuagint by eight hundred and eighty (Alex. 
MS., seven hundred and eighty). Again, in 
this table, the Septuagint inserts between Ar- 
phaxad and Salah the name of Cainan, who, 
according to ver. 9, was the son of Enos. The 
Septuagint makes this second Cainan the son of 
Arphaxad, and Salah the son of Cainan, where- 
as, according to the Hebrew text, Salah was the 
son of Arphaxad. The same name appears in 
Luke 3 : 36, but not in Shem's line to Abram 
given in 1 Chron. 1 (see ver. is, 24 ) r and the best 
authorities regard the name in that line as spu- 
rious. Possibly the Septuagint introduced the 
name in order to complete the ten generations 
from Shem to Terah, whereas they are intended 
to extend from Shem to Abraham. The Chal- 
dee, Syriac, Arabic, and many other ancient 
versions and Targums agree with the Hebrew 
in omitting it. 

Of these three texts, by the almost universal 
judgment of scholars, the Hebrew is regarded 
the most genuine and authoritative. 



1 The following classification of the Semitic languages and principal dialects will be of interest; 
showing the relative positions to which modern philological research has assigned them : 



A. North- Semitic. 

I. Babylonian (Assyrian). 
II. Aramaic. 

a. East-Aramaic. 



1. Classical Syriac (Northern 

'Mesopotamia). 

2. Mandaite (Lower Babylonia). 

3. Babylonian Talmudic. 

4. Modern Syriac (Upper Tigris 

region, Kurdistan, Urmia). 



III. 



b. West-Aramaic. 

1. Biblical-Aramaic. 

2. Targumic. 

3. Samaritan. 

4. Nabatsean (inscriptional). 

5. Palmyrene (inscriptional). 

Canaanitic. 

a. Hebraic (Hebrew, Moabite, etc.). 

b. Phoenician. 



B. South- Semitic. 

I. Sabffian (Himyaritic). 

II. Ethiopic(with modern Tigre,Amharic, etc.). 
III. Arabic. (See McCurdy, Hist. Proph. and the 
Mon„ pp. 19, 403.) 



Ch. XL] 



GENESIS 



113 



15 And 
dred and 

16 And 
Peleg : 

17 And 
dred and 
ters. 

18 And 

19 And 
dred and 

20 And 
Serug : 

21 And 
dred and 



Salah lived after he begat Eber four hun- 
three years, and begat sons and daughters. 
Eber lived four and thirty years, and begat 

Eber lived after he begat Peleg four hun- 
thirty years, and begat sons and daugh- 

Peleg lived thirty years, and begat Reu : 
Peleg lived after he begat Reu two hun- 
nine years, and begat sons and daughters. 
Reu lived two and thirty years, and begat 

Reu lived after he begat Serug two nun- 
seven years, and begat sons and daughters. 



15 and Shelah lived after he begat Eber four hun- 
dred and three years, and begat sons auddaugh- 

16 And Eber lived four and thirty years, and begat 

17 Peleg : and Eber lived after he begat Peleg four 
hundred and thirty years, and begat sons and 
daughters. 

18 And Peleg lived thirty years and begat Reu ; 

19 and Peleg lived after he begat Reu two hundred 
and nine years, and begat sons and daughters. 

20 And Reu lived two and thirty years, and begat 

21 Serug : and Reu lived after he begat Serug two 
hundred and seven years, and begat sons and 
daughters. 



Still, objections have been raised against the 
Hebrew chronology, which makes the period 
between the flood and the call of Abraham only 
three hundred and sixty-five years. It is ar- 
gued by many that this period is not sufficient 
to account, first, for the developed civilization 
in the time of Abraham in Egypt, Babylonia, 
and Assyria; secondly, for the dispersion of 
various tribes at great distances from the orig- 
inal center, at a date long prior to Abraham ; 
thirdly, for the number and variety of lan- 
guages of the world at an early period, of 
which, it is affirmed, the confusion at Babel 
gives only a partial explanation ; fourthly, for 
certain inscriptions in Egypt and Assyria, 
which, it is claimed, must have been made 
before the date assigned to the flood. 

To the first of these objections it has been 
replied by Bawlinson that "there is nothing 
surprising in a high civilization, even within 
a very short time from the deluge ; for the arts 
of life which flourished in the antediluvian 
world (* = 20-22) would have been preserved by 
those who survived the catastrophe, and might 
rapidly revive among their descendants." 

Touching the early wide dispersion of various 
tribes, this should not be deemed inconsistent 
with the Hebrew chronology, considering the 
shorter time which elapsed subsequent to the 
flood before the birth of each eldest son, and 
the provision thus made by God for the speedy 
repeopling of the earth. Murphy computes 
that, allowing five pairs to each family, in four 
hundred and twenty-seven years the population 
of the world would amount to fifteen million 
six hundred and twenty-five thousand souls — 
a number amply sufficient for all the kingdoms 
that were in existence in the time of Abraham. 
"More time," says Rawlinson, "does not seem 
to be in any sense needed by the facts of history 
hitherto known to us." 

If, as maintained by some, there were in the 
world subsequent to the confusion of Babel, but 
prior to Abraham's time, various languages 
which did not originate in that event and are 
not to be explained by it, an explanation is yet 



possible on purely natural grounds. Among 
peoples speaking a yet unwritten language, this 
multiplication of dialects has ever been sponta- 
neously repeating itself. Max Muller has 
pointed out " that tribes that have no literature 
take a delight in working their language to the 
highest pitch, inventing new combinations of 
words, so that two villages separated only by a 
few generations will become mutually unintel- 
ligible. In the north of Asia the Ostiakes, 
though really speaking the same language 
everywhere, have produced so many words and 
forms peculiar to each tribe, that even within 
the limits of twelve or twenty miles conversa- 
tion among them becomes extremely difficult." 

Putting the date of the flood at 2468 B. c, and 
accepting as reliable the statement (McCurdy, 
Vol. I., pp. 97, 137) that the temple of the Sun 
in northern Babylonia was built 3750 B. C, and 
that in 4000 B. C, there was " spoken in Bab- 
ylonia a language differing in no essential 
respect from that used thirty-five hundred years 
later," it will have to be admitted that certain 
inscriptions may have been made before the 
first-named date [and that the Hebrew chro- 
nology is apparently too short]. Yet this ad- 
mission is perfectly reconcilable with the 
genealogical table of our chapter, on the fol- 
lowing grounds : first, this table was not given 
to teach chronology, and it is a misapprehension 
of its object so to regard it. Its main purpose 
was genealogy. Secondly, the phrase "he be- 
gat " is used with great latitude — it may 
point to a remote descendant. Thus, in 10 : 
15-18, Canaan is represented as begetting the 
Jebusite and other tribes. In Matt. 1 : 8 we 
read, " Jehoshaphat begat Joram, and Joram 
begat Uzziah." But Joram was not the father 
of Uzziah ; he was dead seventy years before 
Uzziah was born — the names of Ahaziah, Joash, 
and Amaziah, the father of Uzziah, being omit- 
ted in the register. It was prophesied of 
Ishmael, "twelve princes shall he beget " (" = 
20) ; but these were not all to be the sons of 
Ishmael, but a line of princes. Then thirdly, 
the form of the table is suggestive that names 



114 



GENESIS 



[Ch. XI. 



22 And Serug lived thirty years, and begat Nahor : 

23 And Serug lived after he begat Nahor two hun- 
dred, years and begat sons and daughters. 

24 And Nahor lived nine and twenty years, and 
begat Terah : 

25 And Nahor lived after he begat Terah a hun- 
dred and nineteen years, and begat sons and daugh- 
ters. 

26 And Terah lived seventy years, and begat 
Abram, Nahor, and Haran. 

27 Now these are the generations of Terah : Terah 
begat Abram, Nahor, aiid Haran ; and Haran begat 
Lot. 

28 And Haran died before his father Terah in the 
land of his nativity, in Ur of the Chaldees. 



22 And Serug lived thirty years, and begat Nahor : 

23 and Serug lived after he begat Nahor two hun- 
dred years, and begat sons and daughters. 

24 And Nahor lived nine and twenty years, and 

25 begat Terah: and Nahor lived after he begat 
Terah an hundred and nineteen years, and begat 
sons and daughters. 

26 And Terah lived seventy years, and begat 
Abram, Nahor, and Haran. 

27 Now these are the generations of Terah. Terah 
begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran ; and Haran be- 

28 gat Lot. And Haran died in the presence of his 
father Terah in the land of his nativity, in Ur of 



may have been omitted to make it agree with 
that in chap. 5, which has also ten names ; just 
as in the register of Matt. 1, names were omitted 
in order, probably, to have three sections of 
generations of fourteen each, which could be 
easily remembered. 

If, however, it be said that this reasoning is 
set aside by the explicit statement of the ages of 
the patriarchs when their first son was born, it 
might still be replied that certain names may 
have been omitted between the firstborn son 
and those said to have been descended from 
him. Thus, when it is stated that " Arpachshad 
lived five and thirty years and begat Shelah," 
the meaning may be that Arpachshad was not 
the father, but the grandfather, or more remote 
ancestor of Shelah — in other words, that Ar- 
pachshad was thirty-five years old when his 
first son was born, from whom Shelah was 
descended. If it had been said in Matt. 1 : 8 
that when Joram was thirty-five years old he 
begat Uzziah, the statement would have been no 
less accurate than in its present form ; we should 
then take the passage to mean simply that 
Joram was the ancestor of Uzziah, and that it 
was at the age of thirty-five his first son was 
born. The application of this principle to the 
table before us will bring it into harmony with 
the received fa.cts of history, and furnish an 
adequate reply to those who aver that the com- 
monly accepted chronology does not allow suffi- 
cient time between the flood and the call of 
Abraham. 

26. Terah. From Josh. 24 : 2 it appears 
that Terah was an idolater, or possibly com- 
bined certain idolatrous superstitions with the 
acknowledgment and worship of Jehovah, as 
did his great-grandson Laban after him (si : 30). 

And begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran. 
For change of Abram to Abraham, see on 17 : 5. 

Of Terah's sons, Abram, though not the eldest, 
is yet probably mentioned first by way of dis- 



tinction, and as being the progenitor of the 
Messiah. 1 As Terah lived two hundred and 
five years (ver. 32) f and Abram, after his father's 
death (Acts 8:4), went out of Haran when he 
was seventy-five years old (12 : 4), it follows that 
Abram was Terah's youngest son, and that he 
was begotten, not in Terah's seventieth year, 
but in his one hundred and thirtieth. This has 
been thought by some to be inconsistent with 
Abraham's exclamation in 17 : 17 ; but the 
wonderful thing with Abraham was, not that he 
should have a son when he was a hundred years 
old, but that, having lived so long in the state 
of marriage with Sarah, he should not have 
begun to have any issue by her till he was a 
hundred and she ninety years old. 

The genealogy ending with this verse termi- 
nates, like that in ver. 3-32, with three names, 
one of which (Abram) in this, like Shem in 
that, is principally important as being in the 
line of the promised seed, while the other two 
(Nahor and Haran) are sufficiently so to have 
place in the subsequent history. 

27-32. The Family and Migration of 
Terah. 27. The descendants of Terah are 
particularly specified in this verse, because they 
are to be further dealt with in the history which 
follows. 

28. And Haran died before his father, 
in the presence of his father, and before him, 
therefore, in time. 

Ur of the Chaldees. This expression oc- 
curs again in ver. 31, in 16 : 7, and in Neh. 9 : 7, 
but not elsewhere. The term rendered " Chal- 
dees " is Casdim, a people of obscure origin, 
though they seem from small beginnings to have 
gradually acquired supremacy over South Bab- 
ylonia and the capital (see Ency. Brit., art. 
"Babylonia"). Ur, shown by inscriptions found 
on the spot to be Mugheir, situated on the 
western bank of the Euphrates, where ruins are 
still to be found. Rawlinson says, " It retained 



1 In like manner Jacob the younger is mentioned before Esau (38 
(1 Chron. 1 : 28) ; and Ephraim before Manasseh (48 : 19, 20). 



5 ; Mai. 1:2); Isaac before Ishmael 



Ch. XII.] 



GENESIS 



115 



29 And Abram and Nahor took them wives : the 
name of Abram's wife was Sarai ; and the name of 
Nahor's wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the 
father of Milcah, and the father of Iscah. 

30 But Sarai was barren ; she had no child. 

31 And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the 
son of Haran his son's son, and Sarai his daughter 
in law, his son Abram's wife ; and they went forth 
with them from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the 
land of Canaan, and they came unto Haran, and 
dwelt there. ^ _, ^ 

32 And the days of Terah were two hundred and 
five years : and Terah died in Haran. 



29 the Chaldees. And Abram and Nahor took them 
wives : the name of Abram's wife was Sarai ; and 
the name of Nahor's wife, Milcah, the daughter of 
Haran, the father of Milcah, and the father of 

30 Iscah. And Sarai was barren ; she had no child. 

31 And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son 
of Haran, his son's son, and Sarai his daughter in 
law, his son Abram's wife ; and they went forth 
with them from Urof the Chaldees, to go into the 
land of Canaan ; and they came unto Haran and 

32 dwelt there. And the days of Terah were two 
hundred and five years: and Terah died in 
Haran. 



its metropolitan character for two hundred 
years, and even after it became second to 
Babylon, was a great and sacred city." 

29. The name of Abram's wife was 
Sarai. For change of Sarai to Sarah, see on 
17 : 15. The common Jewish tradition is that 
Sarai was the daughter of Nahor, and the same 
as Iscah. This, however, does not agree with 
20 : 12, in which Abraham says, " She is indeed 
my sister, the daughter of my father, but not 
the daughter of my mother." The best explana- 
tion of these words is probably that given by 
Josephus and other Jewish writers, who take 
"daughter" in 20 : 12 for granddaughter, and 
think that Sarai was Abraham's niece, the 
daughter of Haran, which view derives some 
support from ver. 31, in which she is called 
Terah's daughter-in-law, where, says Aben 
Ezra, she would naturally have been called 
Terah's daughter had she been really such. 
Some have conjectured, as a reason for the men- 
tion of Iscah' s name, that she was Lot's wife 

(see on 20 : 12). 

31. And Terah took Abram his son, 

etc. As the patriarch of the family, Terah took 
the lead in this migration, prompted probably 
by a knowledge of Abram's call and by a desire 
to share in the blessings which had been prom- 
ised him. The death of Haran, his eldest son, 
and his strong attachment to Abram and Sarai, 
may also have made him less inclined to remain 
in Ur. Terah's purpose in the first instance 
was to go to the land of Canaan, but bodily in- 
firmity probably obliged him to halt at Haran, 
where his death delayed the expedition five 
years. 

And they went forth with them. It is 
not clear from either the English or the Hebrew 
to whom "they" and "them" refer. Some 
understand : Terah and Abram went forth with 
Lot and Sarai ; others : Lot and Sarai went 
forth with Terah and Abram ; and others still : 
these four went forth with the unmentioned 
members of the family, or with the bond-ser- 
vants of those mentioned (12 : 5). There is some 
reason for thinking, with Dillmann and others, 



that the text is corrupt, and that originally it 
read: And he (Terah) went forth with them 
(Pesh.) ; or, he (Terah) led them forth (Sept.). 

That the call of Abram took place, not in 
Haran, as Keil and others maintain, but in Ur, 
is clear from Acts 8 : 2, 3 (comp. 15 : 7 ; Neh. 9 : 1), 
It was afterward repeated in Haran (12 : 1). 

Haran, better, Charan, is situated in the 
northwest part of Mesopotamia, about twenty 
miles southeast of Edessa. It still retains its 
ancient name in the form of Harran, but is now 
only a small village, inhabited by a few fami- 
lies of Arabs. 

No mention is made of Nahor and his wife as 
having taken part in the migration ; but if they 
did not accompany Terah and Abram, they 
went afterward and permanently resided at 
Haran, for in 24 : 10 it is called the city of 
Nahor, whither Abraham sent his servant to 
obtain a wife for Isaac, and whither also Jacob 
went when he fled from his brother Esau (27 : 43), 



Chap. 12. 1-9. The Call of Abeam. 
At this point the narrative, which hitherto has 
dealt with the race as a whole, turns to a single 
individual, the head and founder of the Hebrew 
people. The call of Abram marks a new de- 
parture in God's method of dealing with the 
race. The revelation made in the beginning to 
Adam, while containing light enough to guide 
his descendants, was yet not improved by them. 
They wilfully shut their eyes against it, and be- 
came hopelessly corrupt and wicked. The same 
is true of the subsequent revelation made to 
Noah. At this time polytheism and idolatry 
prevailed to an alarming extent, infecting even 
the Shemite portion of the human family (Josh. 
2 * : 2 ), and threatening finally to drive from the 
earth all knowledge of the true God and of 
salvation. The time had therefore manifestly 
come for a different and more effective divine 
interposition. Accordingly, instead of treating 
any longer with the race as a whole, God now 
deals especially with a single nation, but with 
ultimate reference to the salvation of the whole 
world (12 : 2). By bringing one nation into 



116 



GENESIS 



[Ch. XII. 



CHAPTER 

1 NOW the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee 
out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and 
from thy father's house, unto a land that I will 
shew thee : 



special relation to himself, he makes it the tem- 
porary depository and conservator of his truth, 
and the medium of its later communication to 
mankind. 

The objection made by some to this plan of 
procedure, that it Avas exclusive — that it favored 
one nation, while the other nations were left in 
ignorance, would have some weight, if the ar- 
rangement had begun and ended with that one 
nation ; but when viewed as part of a great plan 
which contemplated, not simply the temporary 
good of the Israelitish people, but the ultimate 
good of the race, the objection falls to the 
ground. The covenant Avith Abraham, though 
linked with peculiar privileges and blessings to 
him and his descendants, had yet respect to 
"all the families of the earth." The stoutest 
objector may well be challenged to show how a 
universal dispensation, like Christianity, could 
have been wisely introduced without a previous 
work of preparation, or how any better plan of 
preparation could have been adopted than that 
contained in the Mosaic economy. God was as 
merciful in the time of Abraham as in the time 
of Christ. The Old Testament is as broad and 
catholic as the New. 

The story of the preparation of Abram for 
the high destiny of being the progenitor of the 
chosen nation is one of the most remarkable in 
Bible history. As it constitutes the foundation 
of the national history of the Hebrews, it is de- 
tailed with great minuteness, fourteen chapters 
being devoted to the one hundred and seventy- 
five years of Abram' s life, while only eleven 
chapters are occupied with the two thousand 
years or more of the world's history going 
before. 

In these early chapters of Genesis, God's pur- 
pose of mercy toward the race — a purpose not 
to be turned aside from its course, may be 
clearly traced from its first announcement (3 : 15) 
onward, as it fastens first on Seth, one of the 
three sons of Adam ; then on Shem, one of the 
three sons of Noah ; and now on Abram, one of 
the three sons of Terah. Nor does it stay at 
this point, but onward still it pursues its way 
from Abram to Judah, from Judah to David, 
from David to his greater Son, the promised 
Messiah. Indeed, like a thread of gold, on 
which all the pearls of Scripture promise and 
prophecy are strung, this purpose may be seen 



XII. 

1 NOW the Lord said unto Abram, Get thee out 
of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from 
thy father's house, unto the land that I will shew 



running from the first page of Genesis, which 
tells of a paradise invaded and desolated by sin, 
to the last page of Revelation, which presents 
the picture of a paradise from which sin shall 
be forever excluded, and in which, in the 
presence of the glorified Christ, the saved of all 
the ages and generations of time shall dwell 
forever. 

The principal incidents of Abram' s life are 
grouped around a series of successive divine 
manifestations (theophanies) — in Ur of the 
Chaldees (Acts 7 : 2), at Moreh in Canaan (12 : 7), 
near Bethel (is : u), at Mamre (15 : 1 ; 17 : 1 ; 
is : 1), and on Moriah (22 : 15). 

1. Now the Lord had said unto Abram. 
This rendering in the Authorized version is false 
to the Hebrew, which uses the form here em- 
ployed to express, not a pluperfect, but a perfect 
(see Driver, § 76, 2, obs.) ; and it is forbidden 
by the implication that Abram had not at once 
obeyed the divine command. The reference 
here is to what the Lord said to Abram before 
his migration to Haran, as plainly appears from 
Stephen's words in Acts 7 : 2, and from 15 : 7, 
and Neh. 9 : 7, in which the same is distinctly 
implied. The command to Abram to leave his 
country and kindred and father's house, if first 
addressed to him at Haran, as Keil and others 
maintain, would have been superfluous, since 
he had already obeyed it, and was sojourning 
as a stranger elsewhere. Indeed, the language 
of 11 : 31 implies that the command was given 
to Abram not in Haran, but in Ur, for it de- 
clares that the whole family reached Haran on 
their way to Canaan. The chronological con- 
nection of 11 : 31, 32 with 12 : 1 is not such as to 
make it necessary to give a pluperfect sense to 
the latter. In the former the writer, according 
to his uniform method, simply completes the 
history of Terah before proceeding to that of 
Abram. 

Unto a land that I will shew thee. 
This land was not made known to Abram at the 
time the command came to him to leave Ur — 
he was simply required to detach himself from 
all the ties of kindred and country, and proceed 
in a direction to be afterward indicated (Het>. 
11 : 9). The migrating company halted on their 
way at Haran, in Mesopotamia, till the death of 
Terah, when the summons to Abram was re- 
newed, and the country to which he was to go 



Ch. XII.] 



GENESIS 



117 



2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I 
will bless thee, and make thy name great ; and thou 
shalt be a blessing : 

3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse 
him that curseth thee : and in thee shall all fami- 
lies of the earth be blessed. 



thee : and I will make of thee a great nation, 
and I will bless thee, and make thy name great ; 
and be thou a blessing : and I will bless them 
that bless thee, and him that curseth thee will I 
curse : and in thee shall all the families of the 



was clearly revealed (ver. 5, i ■, Acts 8:4). His 
first call was to a land, his second to a definite 
place. God does not reveal all the riches of 
his grace at once, but only as his people by 
their growing faith are able to appropriate 
them. 

For Ab ram's obedience to the divine call, and 
as compensating him for the sacrifices and dep- 
rivations which that obedience involved, the 
richest temporal and spiritual blessings were 
promised him. These blessings are presented 
under a threefold specification : (1) The land of 
Canaan for a possession to his descendants (12 : 7 ; 
13 : 15; 15 : 7, 18; it : 8) ; (2) an innumerable pos- 
terity (8 : 16 ; 15 : 5 ; 17:2,4, 6, 16 ; 18 : 18 ; 21 : 13 ; 22 : 
1J; comp. Deut. 26:15; 1 Kings 3 : 8) ; (3) all the 

earth blessed in his seed (12 : 3 ; is : is ; 22 : is). 

2. Here begin the promises, "precious and 
exceeding great," which were addressed to 
Abram. The verse is composed of four mem- 
bers, which proceed in the order of an ascend- 
ing climax, the last member being further 
expanded in ver. 3. 

I will make of thee a great nation. 
This promise was fulfilled in the vast multipli- 
cation of Abram' s natural seed. He became 
the ancestor of a countless posterity through 
four distinct lines : (1) Through Ishmael, of the 
Ishmaelites ; (2) through Isaac and Esau, of the 
Edo mites ; (3) through Isaac and Jacob, of the 
Hebrews; (4) through the sons of Keturah, of 
several Arabian tribes, of whom the Midianites 
are best known. But the promise was to reach 
its highest fulfilment in the yet vaster multi- 
plication of Abram's spiritual seed, which 
should embrace all believers to the end of time 

(Gal. 3 : 7, 29). 

And make thy name great. In the an- 
nals of worldly fame, but especially in the his- 
tory of the church. " Perhaps no mere man 
has been so widely and so permanently honored. 
The Jews, and many tribes of the Saracens and 
Arabians, justly own and revere him as their 
progenitor; many nations in the East exceed- 
ingly respect his memory to this day, and glory 
in their real or pretended relationship to him. 
Throughout the visible church he has always 
been highly venerated ; and even now Jews, 
Mohammedans, and many Gentiles vie with 
each other and with Christians, who shall most 
honor this ancient patriarch." 



3. I will bless them that bless thee, 
and him that curseth thee will I curse. 

The Lord identifies himself with Abram and 
his cause, virtually saying to him, thy friends 
shall be my friends, and thy enemies my 
enemies. 

In thee (or, as expressed in 22 : 18 ; 26 : 4, 
in thy seed) shall all the families of the 
earth be blessed. Not bless themselves, as 
Knobel, Delitzsch, Dillmann, and others trans- 
late, thus giving the verb a reflexive sense, 
which, however, is not justified by its form; for 
here, as in 18 : 18 ; 28 : 14, the verb is in the 
passive voice, not bless, but be blessed; and al- 
though in the repetition of the promise in 22 : 
18 ; 26 : 4 the reflexive form is employed, it does 
not follow that in the other three passages the 
passive sense must be given up. A promise so 
full of blessing for the race might well be 
expressed in both forms of the verb. 

The unfolding of this promise, or of the salva- 
tion contained in it, is the great subject of all 
Scripture. It fills a central place in the entire 
Old Testament revelation. All further prom- 
ises to the patriarchs and to the Israelitish 
people were but varied repetitions and amplifi- 
cations of it. It is both general and particular ; 
general, in that for twenty centuries Abram's 
seed was the sole instrument for preserving and 
diffusing the knowledge of the true God. It 
has been truly said that from the time of Abram 
to Christ the Semitic nations, and especially the 
descendants of Abram, were the only believers 
in the unity of the Godhead, and that from the 
time of Christ till now they only have taught 
monotheism to mankind. Abram's name stands 
at the head of the three great monotheistic 
religions of the world — Jewish, Christian, and 
Mohammedan. But in a more particular sense 
has this promise been fulfilled — the sense which 
narrows it into a special reference to Christ, 
Abram's most distinguished descendant. All 
believers indeed are Abram's spiritual progeny 
(Ps. 105 : 6; Gai. 3:7), but the words " in thy 
seed " point preeminently to Christ. Such is 
the application of the words made by Peter (Acts 
3 : 25, 26), and by Paul (Gai. 3 ■ s, u, ie, 29). The 
aim of both the seed of the patriarch (Gai. 3 : 16) 
and of the woman (3 : 15) is Christ, by whom 
salvation has been brought to all the families of 

the world (Ps. 72 : 17 ; Luke 1 : 68-77). 



118 



GENESIS 



[Ch. XII. 



4 So Abram departed, as the Lord had spoken 
uuto him ; and Lot went with him : and Abram was 
seventy and five years old when he departed out of 
Haran. 

5 And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his 
brother's son, and all their substance that they had 
gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in 
Haran ; and they went forth to go into the land of 
Canaan ; and into the land of Canaan they came. 

6 And Abram passed through the land unto the 



4 earth be blessed. So Abram went, as the Lord 
had spoken unto him ; and Lot went with him : 
and Abram was seventy and five years old when 

5 he departed out of Haran. And Abram took 
Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all 
their substance that they had gathered, and the 
souls that they had gotten in Haran ; and they 
went forth to go into the land of Canaan ; and 

6 into the land of Canaan they came. And Abram 
passed through the land unto the place of 



4. And Abram was seventy and five 
years old when he departed out of 
Haran. This statement of Abram's age at the 
time of his leaving Haran is important as show- 
ing that he departed from Ur five years before. 
It shows it in this way : The promise to Abram 
■was four hundred and thirty years before the 
exodus from Egypt (Exod. 12 : 40). During four 
hundred years his seed was to be a stranger in a 
land that was not theirs (is : 13). Hence it fol- 
lows that Isaac, his seed, was born thirty years 
after the call of Abram. But Abram was one 
hundred years old when Isaac was born, conse- 
quently the call came to him when he was 
seventy years of age, that is, five years before 
he entered the land of Canaan. Terah, more- 
over, must have been two hundred years old 
when he started on his long journey to the land 
of Canaan, for he died aged two hundred and 
five years, when Abram was seventy-five. 

5. And the souls that they had gotten ; 
that is, the slaves or dependents whom they had 
acquired during their residence in Haran. The 
Hebrew is literally : the soul (used collectively 
for souls, that is, persons) which they had made. 
The original word for made, rWJ7, 'asah, very 
frequently bears the sense of acquisition, ac- 
cumulation (comp. 36 : 6 ; Ezefc. 27 : 13). The Jewish 
tradition is that these slaves, of whom Abram 
possessed a great number (w = n), were all con- 
verts from idolatry. Accordingly the Targum 
of Onkelos renders: and also the souls which 
they had subjected to the law in Haran; the 
Pseudo- Jonathan and Jerusalem Targums : the 
souls whom they had proselyted. 

Into the land of Canaan they came. 
Starting from Haran with their numerous herds 
and dependents, they would proceed first south- 
ward along the eastern bank of the Euphrates 
to the place of crossing, which was probably 
near where the ancient Apamea stood, and the 
modern Birs now stands; thence — the river 
having been crossed — southward over the desert, 
probably near to Mount Lebanon, to Damascus, 



by the old caravan road leading to that city. 
The traditions which connect Abram's name 
with Damascus, 1 and the fact that Eliezer, his 
servant, was a Damascene, strengthen the 
probability of a temporary sojourn there. From 
Damascus their way lay southwest, first across 
the green valley of the Pharpar, the hill country 
of Geshur, and the rolling landscapes of Bashan 
to Edre'i, one of the two capitals of Bashan, and 
afterward the seat of Og, its Amorite king; 
thence westward to the ford of the Jordan, 
seven miles below the sea of Galilee. From 
this point, climbing the ascent of the hills of 
Samaria, and crossing over and around them 
about five and twenty miles, they would reach 
Shechem, in the center of Palestine, the first 
resting-place of the prophet. Sixty-four years 
afterward Eliezer, the servant of Abram, 
traversed the same journey to obtain for Isaac a 
wife from among his own kindred (chap. 24) t and 
one hundred years later Jacob repeated the 
journey on a similar errand for himself (chap. 

28, 29). 

6. Unto the place of Sichem (Shechem). 
So named by anticipation, for the town did not 
yet exist, as the term place seems to indicate. 
It lay in a narrow valley between the mounts 
Gerizim and Ebal, about seven miles south of 
Samaria. It may have taken its name (which 
means a shoulder or saddle) from its being 
situated on the saddle or ridge which divides 
the valley, the streams running from it to the 
east and the west. Special interest belongs to 
the place from the events associated with it, 
both in the history of the patriarchs and in the 
theocratical and political history of the Israel- 
ites. It was here the Lord first appeared to 
Abram in the land of promise (ver. 7), and here, 
two thousand years later in the person of the 
Messiah, he conversed with the woman at the 
well (John 5 : 7, 25, 26). Here, from the sides of 
Gerizim and Ebal, the blessings and curses of 
the law were proclaimed (Dent. 27 • 11-13; Josh. 8 : 
33-35). In the division of the land it was assigned 



1 Josephus quotes from Nicolaus of Damascus : " Abraham reigned in Damascus, being come with an 
army from the country beyond Babylon, called the land of the Chaldeans. But not long after, leaving 
this country with his people, he migrated into the land of Canaan, which is now called Judea." And he 
adds that Abram's name was still famous at Damascus, and that a house was still shown as his. 



Ch. XII.] 



GENESIS 



119 



place of Sichem, unto the plain of Moreh. And the 
Canaanite was then in the land. 

7 And the Lord appeared unto Abram, and said, 
Unto thy seed will I give this land : and there 
builded he an altar unto the Lord, who appeared 
unto him, 



Shechem, unto the oak of Moreh. And the Ca- 
7 naanite was then in the land. And the Lord 
appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed 
will I give this land : and there builded he an 
altar unto the Lord, who appeared unto him. 



to the Levites, and became a city of refuge 
(josh. 21 : 20, 2i). Here Joshua delivered his last 
solemn address to all the tribes of Israel (Josh. 24 : 
i-25). Here Jotham delivered his parable 
against the rule of Abimelech (Judg- 9 : 7-21). It 
was at Shechem that Rehoboain was proclaimed 
king (1 Kings 12 : i seq.). After the captivity it 
became the celebrated center of the Samaritan 
worship, whose temple was destroyed by John 
Hyrcanus (129 B. C.). On its ancient site, or in 
its immediate vicinity, a new town, Neapolis, 
was built, probably by Vespasian. Its modern 
name is Nablous. In the New Testament it is 
called Sychar (John 4: 5). "Its neighborhood, 
highly picturesque by its position, and abun- 
dantly watered by fountains, rills, and water- 
courses, is distinguished by beautiful olive 
groves, a blooming vegetation, and a carefully 
cultivated soil ; the delight and the praise of all 
modern travelers." Doctor Robinson says : 
"We saw nothing to compare with it in all 
Palestine." 

The plain (oak or, Terebinth) of Moreh. 
There is considerable diversity of opinion as to 
the nature of the tree here mentioned, called 
JV?fc, 'elon, in Hebrew. The best Hebrew 
authorities are agreed that the word should not 
be rendered plain as in the Authorized version ; 
but they are not agreed whether the oak or the 
terebinth is the tree referred to. It is also a 
question whether the word may not here be used 
as a noun of multitude, signifying the oak grove. 
That the fertile valley of Shechem contained 
more than a single oak is plain from Deut. 11 : 
30, which speaks of the oaks of Moreh (comp. 
35:4; josh. 24 : 26). The grove was probably 
called " Moreh " after the name of the person by 
whom the place was first owned or occupied ; 
just as in 13 : 18, the " oaks of Mamre " are sup- 
posed to be so called from the name of a man. 

The Canaanite was then in the land. 
[The claim that this expression implies that the 
Canaanites were not in the land when the author 
wrote, and that the history must have been pre- 
pared subsequent to the conquest of Canaan, is 
not well sustained. In its connection it means 
that the promise of the land to Abraham's seed 
was made in face of the fact that the Canaanite 
was then in possession. Well might Moses call 
this to mind as the Israelites were advancing to 
its conquest. In full view of its possession by 



the Canaanite, it had been promised to Abra- 
ham's seed, and God would see to it that his 
pledge to Abraham would be fulfilled] . 
7. And the JLord appeared unto Abram. 

Abram is the first person to whom the Lord is 
said to have appeared, and this is the first men- 
tion of such appearance to Abram, though not 
the first appearance, for Stephen reports a pre- 
vious one in Ur of the Chaldees (Acts 7:2). The 
voice of the Lord was heard by Adam in the 
garden of Eden, and he is said to have spoken 
to Noah (7 : l ; 9 : l), and to Abram (12 : 1), but 
here the revelation is accompanied by a visible 
manifestation. Though not a direct vision of 
God the Father (John 1 : i8) } there seems to have 
been an outward appearance of some kind — an 
objective reality, and not merely an impression 
on the senses, as may be inferred from subse- 
quent manifestations to the patriarch (i7 : 1 ; 
is : 1). On the relation of the angel of Jehovah 
to Jehovah, see 16 : 7. 

Unto thy seed will I give this land. 
"Unto thy seed," not unto thee. To Abram 
himself ' ' he gave none inheritance in it, no, 
not so much as to set his foot on " (Acts 7:5). It 
was now clear to Abram that the land into 
which he had come was the promised land. In 
Ur of the Chaldees God had said: "A land 
which I will shew thee"; now he says: "A 
land which I will give thee." This promise 
was afterward repeated and amplified to Abram 

(18 : 15, 17 ; 15 : 18 ; 17 : 8) ; to Isaac (26 : 3) ; to 
Jacob (28 : 13; 35 : 12). 

There builded he an altar unto the 
Lord. The place having been hallowed by 
the appearance and promise of Jehovah, Abram 
consecrated it to his worship by building an 
altar on the spot. It is not stated that Abram 
offered sacrifice, but this is implied in the word 
for altar, n3TP, mizbeach, which means the place 
of sacrifice. From the circumstance of this be- 
ing the first place where Abram erected an altar 
after entering the promised land, a peculiar 
sanctity seems ever afterward to have belonged 
to it. After the Israelites conquered Canaan, it 
became an established seat of worship ; for here 
the sanctuary stood in the time of Joshua (Josh. 
24 : 26). Wherever Abram fixed his abode he 
built an altar to Jehovah (ver. 8, and 13 : *, is) • 
so also Isaac (26 : 25) and Jacob (33 : 20). Thus 
Canaan became gradually dotted over with these 



120 



GENESIS 



[Ch. XII. 



8 And he removed from thence unto a mountain 
on the east of Beth-el, and pitched his tent, having 
Beth-el on the west, and Hai on the east : and there 
he builded an altar unto the Lord, and called upon 
the name of the Lord. 

9 And Abram journeyed, going on still toward the 
south. 

10 And there was a famine in the land : and 
Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there ; for 
the famine was grievous in the land. 

11 And it came to pass, when he was come near to 
enter into Egypt, that he said unto Sarai his wife, 
Behold now, I know that thou art a fair woman to 
look upon : 

12 Therefore it shall come to pass, when the 
Egyptians shall see thee, that they shall say. This is 
his wife : and they will kill me, but they will save 
thee alive. 

13 Say, I pray thee, thou art my sister : that it 
may be well with me for thy sake ; and my soul 
shall live because of thee. 



8 And he removed from thence unto the mountain 
on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, having 
Bethel on the west, and Ai on the east : and there 
he builded an altar unto the Lord, and called 

9 upon the name of the Lord. And Abram jour- 
neyed, going on still toward the South. 

10 And there was a famine in the land : and 
Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there ; 

11 for the famine was sore in the land. And it came 
to pass, when he was come near to enter into 
Egypt, that he said unto Sarai his wife, Behold 
now, I know that thou art a fair woman to look 

12 upon : and it shall come to pass when the Egyp- 
tians shall see thee, that they shall say, This is 
his wife : and they will kill me, but they will save 

13 thee alive. Say, 1 pray thee, thou art my sis- 
ter : that it may be well with me for thy sake, and 



stones, commemorative of God's mercies, and 
reminding Israel that it was a sacred land. 
Blessed is the man whose life is marked with 
memorials of communion with God. 

8. He removed from thence unto a 
(the) mountain, lit., mounlainwards. This 
was probably to secure the necessary pasture 
for his flocks. 

Having Bethel on the west, and Hai 
(Ai) on the east. The name Bethel occurs 
here by anticipation, the place having previ- 
ously been called Luz. It was first called 
Bethel (house of God) by Jacob on his journey 
from Beersheba to Haran (28 : 19), and again 
after his return from the latter place twenty 
years later (35 : 15). Its present name is Beitin. 
It was for some time the consecrated place of 
the ark of the covenant ( Judg. 20 : is, 26 ; 1 Sam. 10 : 
3). Samuel held here his court in his annual 
circuit. From Jeroboam to Josiah, more than 
three hundred years, it was desecrated by the 
worship of the golden calves (1 Kings 12:29; 2 
Kings 10 : 28, 29) ; by reason of this it was, under 
the name of Beth-aven (house of iniquity), the 
frequent subject of prophetic denunciation (Hosea 

4 : 15; 10 : 5; Amos 5:5). 

Ai was situated about three miles east of 
Bethel, and was, before its capture by Joshua, a 
royal town of the Canaanites. Its name, which 
signifies the ruins, was probably given it by 
Joshua, who " burnt it and made it a heap for 

ever" (Josh. 8 : 28). 

9. Toward the South, 13,1, negebh, the 
southern district of Palestine (13:3; 20 : 1 ; 24 : 62) . 
South of it lies the wilderness proper, stretching 
across to Mount Sinai (Josh. 15 : 21). 

10-20. Abram in Egypt. 10. There 
was a famine in the land. Another trial 
of his faith — a double trial ; for he is not only 
obliged to seek his bread outside the land which 
God had promised to his seed, but to seek it 



among idolaters and have intercourse with 
them. Yet his faith remains steadfast ; he 
manifests no regret for having left the land of 
his nativity, nor any desire to return thither. 

A country like Canaan, imperfectly culti- 
vated and dependent for its fertility on local 
rains, would be subject to drought and famine. 
Egypt, on the contrary, inhabited at this time 
by a people skilled in agriculture, and flooded 
periodically by the Nile, would be especially 
productive and serve as the granary of the 
neighboring countries. The Bedouins in the 
neighborhood of Egypt are still accustomed to 
look to it when dearth arises (41 : 57). 

To sojourn; not to live there, for Canaan 
was the promised inheritance, and he expected 
to return thither when the famine was over. 

11. Thou art a fair woman, lit., beauti- 
ful in a/ppearance; (comp. 1 Sam. 17 : 42). Sarai 
was now about sixty-five years old, for she was 
ten years younger than Abram, who was seven- 
ty-five when he left Haran (ver. 4). As she 
lived to the age of one hundred and twenty- 
seven, she was now only in middle life, and 
might therefore be as young in appearance as a 
modern woman of thirty-five or forty. Her 
clear complexion, moreover, would make her 
specially attractive to the dark-colored Egyp- 
tians, whose wives, according to both ancient 
and modern accounts, were generally very plain 
and faded early. 

13. Thou art my sister. At the begin- 
ning of their wanderings it was agreed between 

Abram and Sarai (20 : 13 ; comp. ver. 5 of that chapter) 

that she should say she was his sister. By this 
means he hoped to escape the danger of being 
killed on account of his wife, if any one should 
wish to take her. He appears to have been 
specially concerned for his own safety — more 
concerned than for the safety or even honor of 
Sarai. It must be assumed, indeed, that in ad- 



Ch. XII. ] 



GENESIS 



121 



14 And it came to pass, that, when Abram was 
come into Egypt, the Egyptians beheld the woman 
that she was very fair. 

15 The princes also of Pharaoh saw her, and com- 
mended her before Pharaoh : and the woman was 
taken into Pharaoh's house. 

16 And he entreated Abram well for her sake : 
and he had sheep, and oxen, and he asses, and men- 
servants, and maidservants, and she asses, and 
camels. 



14 that my soul may live because of thee. And it 
came to pass, that, when Abram was come into 
Egypt, the Egyptians beheld the woman that she 

15 was very fair. And the princes of Pharaoh saw 
her, and praised her to Pharaoh : and the woman 

16 was taken into Pharaoh's house. And he en- 
treated Abram well for her sake : and he had 
sheep, and oxen, and he-asses, and menservants, 
and maidservants, and she-asses, and camels. 



vising her to pass for his sister, he believed that 
protection would, in some way, be afforded her ; 
but how he expected, by the adoption of this 
expedient, to retain possession of his wife with 
her conjugal honor and fidelity preserved intact, 
it is not easy to see. 

In declaring Sarai to be his sister, Abram 
spoke a falsehood in essence, since his intention 
was to deceive by conveying the impression 
that she was nothing more than a sister to him ; 
in other words, in thus speaking he virtually 
denied that she was his wife. 

Touching the question how far, under given 
circumstances, a person may be justified, not in 
asserting what is false, but in concealing what 
is true, some difference of opinion may exist; 
but all will agree that in the circumstances in 
which Abram was placed, he would have acted 
more wisely, and more worthily had he told the 
whole truth without disguise, and committed 
himself [as well as his wife] entirely to the 
guidance and protection of God. Judging from 
the reproof administered to Abram by Pharaoh 
on this occasion, and by Abimelech twenty-five 
years later, when he falsified in a similar way 
before the latter, had Abram pursued the sim- 
ple, straightforward course, these rulers would 
have respected his conjugal relationship (^r. 19 ; 
20 : 7). The fear of man however, brought a 
snare, and instead of relying upon the Almighty 
to shield him from the real or fancied danger, 
he had recourse to a device of his own creation. 
The narrative, while affording no excuse for his 
dissimulation, shows the impartiality of Scrip- 
ture history. 

15. Pharaoh (signifying according to Jo- 
sephus king, according to recent authorities the 
great house, with which compare the Sublime 
Porte, as applied to the Turkish sultans) is the 
Hebrew name for all the Egyptian kings in the 
Old Testament. It is sometimes followed by the 
proper name of the person who bore the title, 
as Pharaoh Necho (2 Kings 23:29; jer. 46:2), 
Pharaoh Hophra (Jer. 44.30), and sometimes 
with the addition king of Egypt (1 Kings 3 : 1 ; 

2 Kings 17 : 7; 18 : 21). 

The particular monarch who occupied the 
Egyptian throne at the time of Abram's arrival 



in Egypt has not yet been certainly determined, 
some scholars supposing him to have been a 
native king of the twelfth dynasty, the date 
being about 2250 b. c, while others believe that 
he was one of the shepherd kings (Hyksos), 
probably Salatis, the first king of the fifteenth 
dynasty, who ruled over lower Egypt, bordering 
on Canaan, about 2080 B. c. The friendly re- 
ception of a Semitic nomad, and the use of 
camels (ver. 16) among the Egyptians, lend some 
strength to the view that Abram's Pharaoh 
must have been a shepherd king. 

Saw her. So that she must have been un- 
veiled, which agrees with the famous Beni- 
hassan representation of a Semitic family in 
which the wife is unveiled. " We find from 
the monuments," says Taylor, "that the Egyp- 
tian women, in the reign of the Pharaohs, ex- 
posed their faces, and were permitted to enjoy 
as much liberty as the ladies of modern Europe. 
But this custom was changed after the conquest 
of the country by the Persians" (see Hengsten- 
berg's Egypt and the Books of Moses, p. 199). 

And the woman was taken. Not with 
violence, which the text does not warrant, and 
which under the circumstances would be most 
unlikely. As Pharaoh regarded Sarai as 
Abram's sister, whom he would make a second- 
ary wife, his treatment of her would be cour- 
teous and kind, while the policy of deception 
which Abram and Sarai had adopted would 
make it impossible for them to object without 
divulging their secret. 

Into Pharaoh's house. This appropria- 
tion of Sarai exactly accords with historical 
truth. The monarchs of Persia and other coun- 
tries of the East still claim the privilege of 
taking to their harem the unmarried daughter 
or sister of any of their subjects. The father or 
brother may deeply deplore her removal, but 
never resists or questions the royal right. There 
is in the British Museum a papyrus, belonging 
to the age of Rameses II., which represents the 
Pharaoh of the time sending two armies to fetch 
a beautiful woman by force, and to murder her 
husband. 

16. He entreated Abram well for her 
sake. The presents of Pharaoh to Abram in 



122 



GENESIS 



[Ch. XIII. 



17 And the Lord plagued Pharaoh and his house 
with great plagues, because of Sarai, Abram's wife. 

18 And Pharaoh called Abram and said, What is 
this that thou hast done unto me ? why didst thou 
not tell me that she was thy wife ? 

19 Why saidst thou, She is my sister ? so I might 
have taken her to me to wife: now therefore be- 
hold thy wife, take her, and go thy way. 

20 And Pharaoh commanded his men concerning 
him : and they sent him away, and his wife and all 
that he had. 



17 And the Lord plagued Pharaoh and his house 
with great plagues because of Sarai Abram's wife. 

18 And Pharaoh called Abram, and said, What is 
this that thou hast done unto me? why didst 

19 thou not tell me that she was thy wife? Why 
saidst thou, She is my sister? so that I took her 
to be my wife : now therefore behold thy wife, 

20 take her, and go thy way. And Pharaoh gave 
men charge concerning him : and they brought 
him on the way, and his wife, and all that he 
had. 



CHAPTER XIII 



1 AND Abram went up out of Egypt, he, and his 
wife, and all that he had, and Lot with him, into 
the south. 

2 And Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, 
and in gold. 



1 AND Abram went up out of Egvpt, he, and his 
wife, and all that he had, and Lot with him, 

2 into the South. And Abram was very rich in 



honor of Sarai consisted of " sheep, and oxen, 
and he-asses, and men-servants, and maid-ser- 
vants, and she-asses, and camels." These 
usually constituted the chief wealth of nomads 
(13 : 5 ; 24 : 35 ; 32 : is ; Job 1:3). Horses are not in- 
cluded among the monarch's gifts, though they 
were the pride of Egypt, nor do they appear on 
monuments till the time of the Hyksos. In the 
theocratic view the horse was regarded as a 
symbol of worldly splendor (Deut. 17 : 16 ; Ps. 20 : i) t 
and was rarely used among the Hebrews till the 
time of Solomon. 

By the acceptance of these gifts Abram in- 
creased his sin, and involved himself in deeper 
perplexity. 

17. The Lord plagued Pharaoh and 
his house with great plagues, Heb., great 
strokes or, blows. What was the nature of these 
plagues, or how Pharaoh learned that they were 
sent on account of his treatment of Sarai, we 
are not informed. God gave his warning in 
harmony with the conceptions of the Egyptians. 
Probably some mysterious disease infected 
Pharaoh and his household, which led them to 
suspect that a sin against their deities had been 
committed. This led to questioning whether it 
might not have been in connection with Sarai, 
and Pharaoh may have learned from her that 
she was Abram's wife. The incident exemplifies 
God's care of his people, that notwithstanding 
their infirmities and failings, and however de- 
spised in the eyes of the world, they are yet 
precious in his eyes, and that even kings are 
powerless to harm them against his will (ps. 

105 : 12-14). 

18. What is this that thou hast done 
unto me ? God had reproved Pharaoh, but in 
these words Pharaoh reproves Abram. The 
father of the faithful is rebuked by a heathen 
king. But the rebuke was deserved, and 
Abram, with his dissimulation exposed, utters 
not a word in justification of his conduct. 

19. Why saidst thou, She is my sister? 



So I might have taken her to me to wife, 

i. e., and so lead me to take her. As the 
second idea is really a consequence of the first, 
the Hebrew particle (waw consecutive) may be 
rendered so that or, and so (Driver, pu; comp. 31 : 
27). The Vulgate followed by the Arabic has: 
" so that I might have taken her." The mean- 
ing is that Pharaoh, deceived by Abram's words, 
took Sarai with the intention of making her his 
wife, but was hindered from doing so by the 
afflictions with which God visited him ; the in- 
tended nuptials were not actually consummated. 
A comparison of ver. 17 and 20 : 6 puts this 
view beyond doubt. By his special interven- 
tion God protected Sarai from the danger which 
threatened her, and vindicated the sacredness 
of the marriage state. 



Chap. 13. The Separation between 
Abram and Lot. 1. And Abram went up 

out of Egypt. As Palestine is a highland 
country, its entrance from Egypt is always 
spoken of as a going up. 

And Lot with him. In the narrative of 
the descent into Egypt there was no occasion to 
allude to Lot ; he is now mentioned as prepara- 
tory to the separation which was shortly to take 
place, and to which the whole narrative is now 
tending. 

Into the South ; that is, the southern dis- 
trict of Canaan through which he had passed 
on his way to Egypt (12 : 9). 

2. And Abram was very rich ; lit., ex- 
ceedingly heavy ; used in the sense of abundance 

(Exod. 12 : 38 ; 1 Kings 10 : 2 ; 2 Kings 6 : 14), Like his 

descendants, the Israelites, afterward ; he came 
out of Egypt much richer than he went in. 
His former possessions were increased by the 
presents he received from Pharaoh. Here was 
the incipient fulfilment of the promise : " And 
I will bless thee" (12:2), the outward pros- 
perity which was a pledge of the richer spiritual 

blessing (24 : 35 ; Pa. 112 : 3 ; Prov. 10 : 22). 



Ch. XIII.] 



GENESIS 



123 



3 And he went on his journeys from the south 
even to Beth-el, unto the place where his tent 
had been at the beginning, between Beth -el and 
Hai; 

4 Unto the place of the altar, which he had made 
there at the iirst : and there Abram called on the 
name of the Lord. 

5 And Lot also, which went with Abram, had 
flocks, and herds, and tents. 

o And the land was not able to bear them, that 
they might dwell together : for their substance was 
great, so that they could not dwell together. 

7 And there was a strife between the herdmen of 
Abram's cattle and the herdmen of Lot's cattle: 
and the Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelt then in 
the land. 

8 And Abram said unto Lot, Let there be no 
strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and be- 
tween my herdmen and thy herdmen ; for we be 
brethren. 

9 is not the whole land before thee? separate 
thyself, I pray thee, from me : if thou wilt take the 
left hand, then I will go to the right ; or if thou de- 
part to the right hand, then I will go to the left. 

10 And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the 
plain of Jordan, that it was well watered every 
where, before the Lord destroyed Sodom and 



3 cattle, in silver, and in gold. And he went on 
his journeys from the South even to Beth-el, 
unto the place where his tent had been at the 

4 beginning, between Beth-el and Ai ; unto the 
place of the altar, which he had made there at 
the first : and there Abram called on the name 

5 of the Lord. And Lot also, which went with 

6 Abram, had flocks, and herds, and tents. And 
the land was not able to bear them, that they 
might dwell together: for their substance was 
great, so that they could not dwell together. 

7 And there was a strife between the herdmen of 
Abram's cattle and the herdmen of Lot's cattle : 
and the Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelled 

8 then in the land. And Abram said unto Lot, 
Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me 
and thee, and between my herdmen and thy 

9 herdmen ; for we are brethren. Is not the 
whole land before thee ? separate thyself, I pray 
thee, from me : if thou wilt take the left hand, 
then I will go to the right ; or if thou take the 

10 right hand, then I will go to the left. And Lot 
lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the Plain of 
Jordan, that it was well watered every where, 
before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, 



In cattle, in silver, and in gold. Silver 
and gold are not included among the possessions 
enumerated in ver. 16 of the previous chapter. 
Abram probably obtained them from the sale of 
animals for slaughter, and of butter, cheese, and 
wool to the Egyptian townspeople. The Egyp- 
tians, who hated pastoral pursuits themselves 
(46 : 34) t were chiefly dependent for these articles 
upon the pastoral people who dwelt in or near 
their country. 

3. And he went on his journeys ; Heb., 
according to his settings out, that is, by stations 
or encampments, showing that he proceeded 
gradually, adapting his speed to the require- 
ments of the flocks and herds he had with him 

(Exod. 17 : 1; 40 : 36). 

4. There Abram called on the name 

of the Lord. On his return to Canaan 
Abram embraced the first opportunity of re- 
newing his allegiance to God, and offering the 
typical sacrifices which pointed to the blessings 
of the promise. The place chosen for this was 
the scene of his former worship. 

6, 7. And the land was not able to 
bear them, that they might dwell to- 
gether. It did not furnish sufficient pasturage 
for their numerous flocks and herds. And the 
difficulty was increased by the fact that the 
Canaanites and Perizzites were then dwelling 
(the participle of past time, Driver, § 135, 1 ; 
comp. 19 : 1) in the land, and were in possession 
of the best pastures. This lack of sufficient 
nourishment for so many cattle led to strife 
between the herdsmen of the two parties, which 
would have extended to their masters but for 
the magnanimity of Abram. The words of 
Abram to Lot (ver. 8) seem to imply that the 



latter had identified himself with his herdsmen 
in the quarrel. 

Little is known of the Perizzites. They are 
not mentioned in the catalogue of nations in 
chap. 10. They appear, not in the genealogical 
lists of the Canaanitish tribes, but only in the 
geographical enumeration of the inhabitants of 

the land (15 : 20; Exod. 3:8; Deut. 7:1). From 

Josh. 11 : 3 ; 17 : 15 they seem to have dwelt in 
the woods and mountains. Some regard them 
as the remnant of an early Shemite race who 
were displaced by the Hamite invaders of 
Palestine. 

8, 9. Let there be no strife. A noble 
example of unselfishness and condescension. 
Abram was the elder, had superior rights, by 
virtue of which he might have dictated to Lot 
the terms on which the settlement of the dispute 
should be effected. These, however, he waives, 
and generously offers to Lot a choice which be- 
longed properly to himself. Abram was a lover 
of peace, and showed his greatness in rising 
above personal interests, and taking the initia- 
tive in bringing about reconciliation. 

For we be (are) brethren. Abram could 
justly appeal to the relation of kinship between 
him and Lot as a reason for continued friend- 
ship between them. Among the Hebrews not 
only a brother, but a brother's son, a cousin, 
and any near relative was called brother. But 
Abram and Lot were brethren in a higher sense 
than that of family relationship — they were 
such in their religion, and the interests of re- 
ligion would have been seriously imperiled by 
their falling out with each other. 

10, 11. And Lot lifted np his eyes. 
They were now probably encamped on the lofty 



124 



GENESIS 



[Ch. XIII. 



Gomorrah, even as the garden of the Lord, like the 
land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar. 

11 Then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan ; 
and Lot journeyed east : and they separated them- 
selves the one from the other. 

12 Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan, and Lot 
dwelt in the cities of the plain, and pitched his 
tent toward Sodom. 

13 But the men of Sodom were wicked and sin- 
ners before the Lord exceedingly. 

14 And the Lord said unto Abram, after that Lot 
was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, 
and look from the place where thou art northward, 
and southward, and eastward, and westward : 

15 For all the land which thou seest, to thee will 
I give it, and to thy seed for ever. 

16 And I will make thy seed as the dust of the 
earth : so that if a man can number the dust of the 
earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered. 

17 Arise, walk through the land in the length of 
it and in the breadth of it ; for I will give it unto 
thee. 



like the garden of the Lord, like the land of 

11 Egypt, as thou goest unto Zoar. So Lot chose 
him all the Plain of Jordan ; and Lot journeyed 
east: and they separated themselves the one 

12 from the other. Abram dwelled in the land of 
Canaan, and Lot dwelled in the cities of the 
Plain, and moved his tent as far as Sodom. 

13 Now the men of Sodom were wicked and sin- 

14 ners against the Lord exceedingly. And the. 
Lord said unto Abram, after that Lot Mas! 
separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and 
look from the place where thou art, northward 
and southward and eastward and westward: 

15 for all the land which thou seest, to thee will I{ 

16 give it, and to thy seed for ever. And I will 
make thy seed as the dust of the earth : so that 
if a man can number the dust of the earth, 

17 then shall thy seed also be numbered. Arise, 
walk through the land in the length of it and 
in the breadth of it ; for unto thee will I give it. 



highlands east of Bethel, where Abram had 
built the altar and called on the name of the 

Lord (comp. ver. 3 with 12 : 8). " From this Spot 

Lot and Abram chose their possessions. Lot 
saw the plains of Jordan, watered by fertilizing 
rivers, not yet broken up by the overflowing or 
outbursting of the great salt lake, very probably 
irrigated like the land of Egypt which he had 
lately left, where the Nile refreshed the soil, 
and the plague of famine never came. Taking 
no warning by the dangers, bodily and spiritual, 
which had beset them in Egypt, he feared not 
the proximity of the wealthy and luxurious in- 
habitants of Sodom and Gomorrah, but thought 
their land pleasant even as the garden of the 
Lord. He chose the rich pastures of the plain, 
and left Abram the less promising, but, as it 
proved, the safer inheritance of the hill country 
of Judea. It was a selfish choice, and it proved 
a sad one." 

12. And Lot • • . pitched his tent to- 
ward Sodom, moved his tent as far as Sodom. 
The next we hear of him he has actually entered 
the city and is dwelling there (u : 12 ; 19 : 1). He 
doubtless shrank at first from casting in his lot 
with its abominably wicked inhabitants. But 
the prospect of worldly advantage seems to 
have outweighed all other considerations with 
him. " They that will be rich fall into tempta- 
tion and a snare " (1 Tim. 6 : 9, 10). Lot found in 
the neighborhood of Sodom an abundant sup- 
ply of pasturage for his flocks, and afterward 
in Sodom excellent business opportunities ; but 
his worldly gains were sadly offset by the deg- 
radation of his family and the wreck of his own 

happiness (2 Peter 2 : 7, 8). 

13. Wicked and sinners before (against) 
the Lord exceedingly. In this character- 
ization of the Sodomites the writer anticipates 
the succeeding history (chap. i9) ? and exhibits 



more clearly the worldliness of Lot in choosing 
to reside among them. 

14-17. These verses contain the renewal of 
the promise to Abram, and in an expanded 
form. Here, in addition to the land and the 
seed promised in 12 : 2 and 12 : 7, it is declared 
that his seed should be as the dust of the earth, 
without number. Abram was still probably 
east of Bethel when these words were addressed 
to him. From this central elevated position he 
would obtain a commanding view of almost the 
entire country. 

15* All the land which thou seest, to 
thee will I give it, and to thy seed for 
ever. Various theories have been advanced 
as to the interpretation of this promise. Some 
commentators maintain that it has been only 
partially fulfilled, and that it will have its full 
accomplishment only when the Jews shall here- 
after be gathered from all nations and restored 
to the land of their fathers. In support of this 
view such passages as Deut. 30 : 3, 4, 5 ; Isa. 11 : 
12 ; Jer. 31 : 10-12 ; Ezek. 11 : 17-19 are com- 
monly quoted. But as their entire context 
shows, it is a missing of the true spiritual im- 
port of these passages to regard them as pro- 
phetic simply of the return to Canaan of the 
lineal posterity of Abram — his seed according 
to the flesh. That other interpretation of the 
promise is therefore to be preferred which refers 
it to the spiritual seed of Abram, who walk in 
the steps of that faith which he had (Rom. 4 : 11- 
i"). The land of Canaan as "an everlasting 
possession" (is : 8) was conditionally given to 
the chosen people ; they might by transgression 
forfeit the covenanted region, as was actually 

the Case (Lev. 26 : 27-33 ; Isa. 63 : 18). As Keil has 

truly observed: "The promise neither pre- 
cluded the expulsion of the unbelieving seed 
from the land of Canaan, nor guarantees to 



GENESIS 



Ch. XIV.] _______ 

18 Then Abram removed his tent, and came and 
dwelt in the plain of Mainre, which is in Hebron, 
and built there an altar unto the Lord. 



CHAPTER 

1 AND it came to pass in the days of Amraphel | 1 



125 



18 And Abram moved his tent, and came and dwelt 
by the oaks of Mamre, which are in Hebron, and 
built there an altar unto the Lord. 



XIV. 

AND it came to pass in the days of Amraphel 



existing Jews a return to the earthly Palestine 
after their conversion to Christ." It is the ful- 
filment of the promise in Christ that exalts it 
from its temporal form and imports into it the 
element of eternity. 

18. The plain {oaks) of Mamre. 1 So 
called probably from Mamre, its first owner or 
occupant, one of three brothers (u = 13), who 
were friends of Abram and confederated with 
him in the expedition against the four kings 
(see ou 12: 6). Which is (are) in Hebron. 
This is the first mention of this famous city. 
It is situated in the mountainous region of 
Judea, twenty miles south of Jerusalem, and 
about the same distance north of Beersheba. 
It ft one of the oldest cities in the world. Ac- 
cording to Num. 13 : 22, it was built seven years 
before Zoan, in Egypt. Its original name was 
Kiriath-Arba ; that is, the city of Arba, the 
father of Anak, and progenitor of the Anakim 
(josh. 15 : 13 ; 21 : li). From the time that Abram 
took up his abode in Hebron, the place became 
celebrated in the history of the Jews. It was 
here the announcement was made to Abram 
that a son was to be born to him. Here Sarah 
died, on which occasion Abraham bought of 
Ephron the Hittite the field and cave of Mach- 
pelah for a burial-place. The cave is still there, 
enclosed within the walls of a mosque, which 
the Moslems regard as one of the four holiest 
sanctuaries of the world. Hebron was taken 
by Joshua (Josh. 10 : 36), and given by him to 
Caleb (Josh, u : 13 ; 15 : 13, u). It was assigned to 
the Levites, and made a city. of refuge (Josh. 21 : 
n-13). Here David established his seat of gov- 
ernment, and reigned over Judah seven and a 
half years (2 Sam. 5:5). It is now called El 
Khalil, "the friend"; that is, the house of 
the friend of God. 



Chap. 14. 1-17. Abkam's Military Ex- 
pedition. These verses relate the story of the 
first war mentioned in Scripture. It is inserted 
here, doubtless, for the purpose of showing the 
part which Abram played therein— a part as 
disinterested as it was heroic. The occasion 



was this : The king of Sodom and the kings of 
the adjoining cities, after having been tribu- 
tary for twelve years to Chedorlaomer, king of 
Elam, combined to throw off his yoke. To 
punish their rebellion, as he deemed it, Chedor- 
laomer, with the aid of three allies, invaded 
the territory of the refractory kings, defeated 
them in a pitched battle, and hastened in tri- 
umph on his homeward march with numerous 
captives, including Lot, and much booty. 
Abram, on hearing of the disaster which had 
befallen his nephew, for whom he still cher- 
ished a strong affection, resolved to take im- 
mediate steps for his rescue. Placing himself 
at the head of his armed servants, he pursued 
the retreating enemy, and recovered not only 
Lot, but also all the prisoners and all the prop- 
erty that had been taken. The expedition in- 
volved a march of over three hundred miles. 

By many this chapter is thought to be a very 
ancient document which Moses has incorpo- 
rated into his narrative. The precision of its 
statements, coupled with the unusual number 
of ancient names requiring explanation which 
it groups together, point unquestionably to an 
early date. The view of Noldeke that it is an 
invention for the purpose of exalting Abram is 
refuted by evidence lying on its face. The 
names of the kings engaged, their alliance, and 
route are all established by monumental evi- 
dence. Its connection with what precedes and 
follows is so close and natural that its omission 
would cause a serious break in the history. 

1. Amraphel king of Shinar was a suc- 
cessor of Nimrod, and probably his descendant. 
The first world-power, established by Nimrod, 

and Consisting of four cities (see 10 : 10 and note), 

had now given place to a world-confederacy, 
consisting of four kings. Of these, Amraphel, 
as being the representative of Nimrod, is named 
first, though Chedorlaomer was commander-in- 
chief of the united forces, and the war was 
waged chiefly in his behalf. Amraphel (Sep. 
Amarphal), through the discovery of the Code 
of Khammu-rabi and other evidence has been 
identified with this great laAV-maker. His king- 



1 Says Mr. Porter (Bib. Diet.) : " About a mile from the town, up the valley, is one of the largest oak 
trees in Palestine. It stands quite alone in the midst of the vineyards. It is twenty-three feet in girth, 
and its branches cover a space of ninety feet in diameter. This, say some, is the very tree beneath which 
Abram pitched his tent ; but however this may be, it stills bears the name of the patriarch." 



126 



GENESIS 



[Ch. XIV. 



king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedor- 
laomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of nations ; 

2 That these made war with Bera king of Sodom, 
and with Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of 
Admah, and Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the 
king of Bela, which is Zoar. 

3 All these were joined together in the vale of 
Siddim, which is the salt sea. 

4 Twelve years they served Chedorlaomer, and 
in the thirteenth year they rebelled. 



king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedor- 
laomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goiim, 

2 that they made war with Bera king of Sodom, 
and with Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king 
of Admah, and Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and 

3 the king of Bela (the same is Zoar). All these 
joined together in the vale of Siddim (the same 

4 is the Salt Sea). Twelve years they served 
Chedorlaomer, and in the thirteenth year they 



dom lay in northern Babylonia, embracing Bab- 
ylon as its capital. 

It may here be remarked that the term 
"king" in this and other early applications 
of the word, does not carry the import that is 
now usually connected with the title. The 
kings of those primitive times were simply 
petty chieftains or heads of tribes ruling over 
a single town and its surrounding district. 
Thus, the kings mentioned in the second verse 
are spoken of as kings of cities, and the cities 
over which they ruled were situated only a few 
miles from each other. 

Arioch king of Ellasar. Ellasar has 
been pretty certainly determined. Rawlinson, 
Geo. Smith, Lenormant, and Sayce identify it 
with Larsa or Larancha, the Larissa of the 
Greeks, a town in Lower Babylonia, between 
Ur and Erech, on the left bank of the Eu- 
phrates. 

Chedorlaomer, Sep., Chodollogomor, is 
identified by recent authorities with Kudur- 
Lagamar, who " was presumably the successor 
and son of Kudwr-Mabug, and, like him, main- 
tained his sway over Babylonia, with Arioch as 
his viceroy in Larsa, having also the kingdom 
of ' Shinar ' as a vassal state " (McCurdy). On 
the Assyrian inscriptions several kings of Elam 
have names compounded with Kudur. 

King of Elam. Elam comprehended the 
broad and rich plains east of the lower Tigris, 
and separated by it from Shinar (see on 10 : 22). 

The loss of the tribute from the five kings 
whom the king of Elam had subjugated fourteen 
years before would in itself be a sufficient cause 
for his now making war against them and put- 
ting down their revolt ; but besides this, there 
was the importance of the valley as a link of 
connection between the Euphrates and Egypt 
for commercial and military purposes. " Some- 
times it might serve the purpose of east and 
west to have a neutral power between them, as 
became afterward clear in the history of Israel, 
but oftener it was the ambition of either Egypt 
or the East to hold Canaan in subjection." 

Tidal, or rather, Turgal, that is, the great 
chief, king of Goiim, that is, probably, the 
nations or tribes to the north of Babylonia. 



3. King of Bela, which (the same) is 
Zoar. Bela was the ancient, and Zoar the 
more modern name (is : 22). This chapter con- 
tains " several names of places that had passed 
out of use and remembrance in later times; 
hence the addition (here, and in ver. 3, 7, 17) of 
the more modern names, and the explanation (in 
ver. 6, 15) of localities that had become obscure, 
or could be made clearer by reference to one 
that had become more distinguished and was 
better known." The name of this king is not 
given. According to the narrative in chap. 19, 
these five towns, with the exception of Zoar, 
were destroyed. 

3. All these (the five kings mentioned in 
ver. 2) joined together, that is, formed a 
league in self-defense, and marched out to meet 
the enemy. 

In the vale of Siddim. Interpreters are 
not agreed as to the meaning of this word. 
Some take it to be the plural of 5~n^, sadhe, 
field; others derive it from T£?, sidh, lime, 
because of the abundance of bitumen, which was 
used as lime (u : 3 ) ; while yet others refer it to 
an Arabic root signifying an obstruction, and so 
conclude that the valley of Siddim was so-called 
as being full of rocky irregularities. "The 
cliffs of marl," says Conder, "along the shore 
of the Dead Sea and those formed by the streams 
running to Jordan, are called Sidd by the Bed- 
awin. These marl hills are the most remarkable 
feature of the lower part of the Ghor." 

Which (the same) is the Salt Sea. These 
words have been supposed to imply that what 
was the vale of Siddim became the Salt Sea. 
This vale formed a portion, at least, of the low- 
land afterwards submerged by the Salt Sea. 
Robinson supposed the vale of Siddim to have 
been at the southern extremity of the Dead Sea, 
where are now to be seen the principal deposits 
of salt and bitumen. 

5-7. From these verses it appears that Che- 
dorlaomer did not confine his military opera- 
tions to the chastisement of the five kings, 
but on his way attacked other tribes also. 
The names are given in the order of his 
march, beginning with those on the east of the 
Jordan. 



Ch. XIV.] 



GENESIS 



127 



5 And in the fourteenth year came Chedorlao- 
mer, and the kings that were with him, and smote 
the Rephaim in Ashteroth Karnaim, and the Zuzim 
in Ham, and the Emim in Shaveh Kiriathaim, 

6 And the Horites in their mount Seir, unto El- 
paran, which is by the wilderness. 

7 And they returned, and came to En-mish-pat, 
which is Kadesh, and smote all the country of the 
Amalekites, and also the Amorites, that dwelt in 
Hazezon-tamar. 



rebelled. And in the fourteenth year came 
Chedorlaomer, and the kings that were with 
him, and smote the Kephaim in Ashteroth-kar- 
naim, and the Zuzim in Ham, and the Emim in 
Shaveh-kiriathaim, and the Horites in their 
mount Seir, unto El paran, which is by the 
wilderness. And they returned, and came to 
En-mishpat (the same is Kadesh), and smote all 
the country of the Amalekites, and also the 



5. The Rephaim, better, Eephaites. As 
here employed, and in Deut. 3:11; Josh. 13 : 12, 
the name specially designates a gigantic race on 
the east of the Jordan, dwelling in Bashan and 
northern Gilead, who were driven out by Moses, 
and of whom Og, king of Bashan, " who reigned 
in Ashtaroth and Edrei," his chief cities, was 
the last. It also applied to the giant aborigines 
of Palestine prior to the invasion of the Canaan- 
ites, though a remnant of them existed as late as 
the conquest (Deut. 2:20; 3 : 11, 13). The last 
traces of them in the Old Testament are in 
2 Sam. 21 : 16-22, where they appear among the 
Philistines in the time of David. 

Ashteroth Karnaim. Literally, Ashteroth 
of the Two Horns; so-called, probably, in honor 
of the goddess Ashtereth, Astarte, or Venus, 
who, as the goddess of the moon, was repre- 
sented with two horns. The plural form, Ash- 
teroth, here employed, may point either to the 
number of images erected as objects of worship, 
or to different modifications of the same divinity. 

This female divinity was widely worshiped 
among the ancient inhabitants of Canaan ; for 
example, by the Zidonians (1 Kings 11 : 33 ; 2 Kings 
23 : 13), by the Philistines (1 Sam. 31 : 10), and 
also, as shown in this passage, on the east Bide 
of the Jordan. The Israelites were often seduced 
into this debasing worship (aee Judg. 2 : 13 ; 10 : 6 ; 

1 Sam. 7 : 3, 4 ; 12 : 10 ; 1 Kings 11 : 5, 33 ; 2 Kings 23 : 13). 

The site of the city has not been certainly 
determined. Bitter ( quoted by Dillmann ) iden- 
tifies it with the present Tel Astera, twenty-one 
miles east of the sea of Galilee, in the region of 
Bashan. It is mentioned as a strongly fortified 
town in the books of the Maccabees (i Mace. 5 : 26, 
43, 44 ; 2 Mace 12 : 2i, 26), under the names of Kar- 
naim and Karnion, containing a celebrated 
temple of the goddess. 

The Zuzim. A wild and ferocious people 
occupying the districts between the rivers Arnon 
and Jabbok. They were later extirpated by 
the Ammonites, who called them Zamzummim 

(Deut. 2 : 20, 21), 

The Emim (terrible ones) ; the original 
inhabitants of Moab ; called also Bephaim, as 
being of colossal stature (Deut. 2 : 10, 11). 

Shaveh Kiriathaim, lit., the plain of Kiri- 



athaim, or, the plain of the two cities, was situated 
in the district afterward assigned to Beuben 

(Num. 32 : 37; Josh. 13 : 19). 

6. The Horites, lit., dwellers in caves, 
were the aboriginal inhabitants of the moun- 
tainous region extending from the Dead Sea 
southward to the Arabian Gulf. The wonderful 
excavations in the rocks near Petra are possibly 
due to these " Horim " or cave-dwellers. They 
were driven out by the Edomites, who possessed 
Mount Seir " in their stead " (Deut. 2 •. 12). 

Unto El-paran (that is, the oak, or, tere- 
binth, of Paran), which is by the wilder- 
ness, that is, as Keil thinks, " on the eastern 
side of the desert of Paran (see 21 : 21), probably 
the same as Elath (Deut. 2:8), or Eloth (1 Kings 
9 : 26), the important harbor of Aila on the 
northern extremity of the so-called Elanitic 
Gulf, near the modern fortress of Akaba." 

7. From El-paran, the southern limit of their 
conquests, the victorious allies returned north- 
ward and came to En-mish-pat (well of judg- 
ment), so-called, probably, because decisions 
were there given to disputants. 

Which {the same) is Kadesh. Identified by 
Bev. J. Bowlands in 1842 with Ain-Kadish, a 
spring about fifty miles south of Beersheba in 
the desert of El-Tih. The site which had been 
lost was rediscovered by Doctor Trumbull in 
1881. 

And smote all the country of the 
Amalekites ; that is, the country afterward 
possessed by the Amalekites, for the nation of 
the Amalekites did not yet exist : according to 
36 : 12, Amalek, the progenitor of the Amalek- 
ites, was the grandson of Esau, and did not 
therefore live till over one hundred years after 
the events here recorded. Moses speaks of the 
places by the names by which they were best 
known in his time. The Amalekites dwelt be- 
tween Egypt, Philistia, Edom, and the wilder- 
ness of Mount Sinai. 

Emboldened by their successes, the allied 
kings ventured next to attack the Amorites, 
that dwelt in Hazezon-tamar, the most 
warlike and powerful tribe of Canaan. Haza- 
zon-tamar, one of their chief cities, was situated 
on the western shore of the Dead Sea, in a fertile 



128 



GENESIS 



[Ch. XIV. 



8 And there went out the king of Sodom, and 
the king of Gomorrah, and the king of Admah, 
and the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela, 
(the same is Zoar;) and they joined battle with 
them in the vale of Siddim ; 

9 With Chedorlaomer the king of Elam, and with 
Tidal king of nations, and Amraphel king of 
Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar ; four kings 
with five. 

10 And the vale of Siddim was full of slime-pits ; 
and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, and 
fell there ; and they that remained lied to the 
mountain. 

11 And they took all the goods of Sodom and 
Gomorrah, and all their victuals, and went their 
way. 

12 And they took Lot, Abram's brother's son, 
who dwelt in Sodom, and his goods, and departed. 

13 And there came one that had escaped, and 
told Abram the Hebrew ; for he dwelt in the plain 
of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol, and 
brother of Aner : and these were confederate with 
Abram. 

14 And when Abram heard that his brother was 
taken captive, he armed his trained servants, born 
in his own house, three hundred and eighteen, and 
pursued them unto Dan. 

15 And he divided himself against them, he and 
his servants, by night, and smote them, and pur- 



8 Amorites, that dwelt in Hazazon-tamar. And 
there went out the king of Sodom, and the king of 
Gomorrah, and the king of Admah, and the king 
of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (the same is 
Zoar) ; and they set the battle in array against 

9 them in the vale of Siddim ; against Chedor- 
laomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goiim, 
and Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king 

10 of Ellasar ; four kings against the five. Now 
the vale of Siddim was full of slime pits ; and 
the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, and they 
fell there, and they that remained fled to the 

11 mountain. And they took all the goods of 
Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their victuals, 

12 and went their way. And they took Lot, 
Abram's brother's son, who dwelt in Sodom, and 

13 his goods, and departed. And there came one 
that had escaped, and told Abram the Hebrew : 
now he dwelt by the oaks of Mamre the Amorite, 
brother of Eshcol, and brother of Aner ; and 

14 these were confederate with Abram. And 
when Abram heard that his brother was taken 
captive, he led forth his trained men, born in 
his house, three hundred and eighteen, and pur- 

15 sued as far as Dan. And he divided himself 
against them by night, he and his servants, 



region and abounding with palm trees. Hence 
its name, which means pruning of the palm. 
The place was afterward called JEngedi, that is, 
fountain of the kid, now Ain-jidy (2 Chron. 20 : 2). 

Having thus rapidly sketched the ravages of 
the invading army, the writer now returns to 
his special object, the occurrences immediately 
connected with Abram's history. 

10. Slime^pits (asphalt pits) ; lit., pits, 
pits of asphalt, that is, full of asphalt pits. On 
the repetition of the noun to express plurality, 
see Ewald, £313a; Green, §280, 2. "Some of 
the wells near the Dead Sea/' says Inglis, "are 
one hundred and sixteen feet deep, with a 
stratum of bitumen fifteen feet in depth, and as 
black as jet." From a strategic point of view 
the place was well chosen by the five kings 
(ver. s) } yet in their flight many of their own 
army perished in the very pits which they had 
hoped would prove fatal to their enemies. 

They fell there. The sense of these words 
appears to be that the kings of Sodom and 
Gomorrah were slain. Probably, however, their 
forces only are meant. At least the king of 
Sodom escaped, for he is represented as after- 
ward going out to meet Abram (ver. 17). 

13. Abram the Hebrew; that is, the 
descendant of Eber, and not, as some suppose, 
the stranger from beyond the Euphrates. He 
is here distinguished as the Hebrew (*i = 12) f 
just as his confederate Mamre is distinguished 
as the Amorite (see on 10 : 21). 

14. He armed his trained servants (he 
led forth his trained men), born in his own 
house. These were domestic slaves, and re- 
garded and treated as trusted members of his 



family. Their having been born in his house 
shows them to have been neither bought, hired, 
nor taken in war. The size of his household 
may be judged from his having been able to 
spare three hundred and eighteen souls for the 
expedition, and still have a sufficient number 
left to take care of his flocks. 

Unto (as far as) Dan. The place here spoken 
of cannot be the Dan in the extreme northern 
part of Palestine, which only received that 
name in the time of the Judges (see judg. is : 28, 29), 
its former name having been Laish ; unless, as 
some think, Dan was substituted by a later 
hand for Laish in the original manuscript. 
Against such substitution, however, it has been 
justly remarked that if the northern boundary 
town had been intended, the text would most 
likely have been " Laish, which is Dan," just 
as it is said " the vale of Siddim, which is the 
Salt Sea" (ver. 3); "En-mishpat, which is 
Kadesh" (ver. 7); and "the valley of Shaveh, 
which is the king's vale " (ver. it). The better 
view, therefore, is that the Dan of our verse is 
the other northern town, Dan-jaan, mentioned 
in 2 Sam. 24 : 6 (comp. Deut. 34 : 1), situated in 
northern Peraea, to the southwest of Damascus. 
Keil quotes Eobinson ( Bib. Researches) to show 
that the Laish Dan does not lie on either of the 
two roads leading from the vale of Siddim or of 
the Jordan to Damascus. 

15. He divided himself against them 
... by night. The tactics here employed 
by Abram were those often afterward adopted 
by the Hebrews and Arabians (comp. 1 Sam. 11 : 11 ; 
job 1 : 17) ; the result, by the divine favor, was 
the complete discomfiture of the allied forces. 



Ch. XIV.] 



GENESIS 



129 



sued them unto Hobah, which is on the Jeft hand 
of Damascus. 

16 And he brought back all the goods, also 
brought again his brother Lot, and his goods, and 
the women also, and the people. 

17 And the king of Sodom went out to meet him, 
after his return from the slaughter of Chedorlaomer 
and of the kings that were with him, at the valley 
of Shaveh, which is the king's dale. 

18 And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth 
bread and wine : and he was the priest of the most 
high God. 



and smote them, and pursued them unto Hobah, 

1*5 which is on the left hand of Damascus. And 

he brought back all the goods, and also brought 

again his brother Lot, and his goods, and the 

17 women also, and the people. And the king of 
Sodom went out to meet him, after his return 
from the slaughter of Chedorlaomer and the 
kings that were with him, at the vale of Shaveh 

18 (the same is the King's Vale). And Melchiz- 
edek king of Salem brought forth bread and 
wine: and he was priest of God Most High. 



Hobah, which is on the left hand (that 

is, to the north) of Damascus. The Hebrews 
defined the quarters of the heavens with their 
faces to the east, and so had the north on the 
left hand. " At the distance of two miles out- 
side the walls of Damascus is the village of 
Hobah, said to be that to which Abram pursued 
the kings" (Stanley). More probably Hoba, 
fifty miles north of Damascus. Damascus is 
probably the most ancient city of any impor- 
tance in the world that has had an unbroken 
history to the present time, and is still in- 
habited. According to Josephus it was founded 
by Uz, the great-grandson of Noah. Its present 
population is about one hundred and fifty thou- 
sand, of whom the majority are Mohammedans. 

17. The valley of Shaveh, which (the 
same) is the king's vale. The precise local- 
ity of this vale has not been determined. It is 
commonly identified with that part of the ravine 
of the Kedron afterward known under that name 
(comp. 2 Sam. is : is). According to Josephus 
(Ant., VII., 10, 3), it lay about two stadia (a 
quarter of a mile) from Jerusalem. 

18-24. Abeam's Meeting with Mel- 
chizedek. 18. Melchizedek (king of right- 
eousness). A much more illustrious personage 
than the king of Sodom went forth to meet 
Abram in the vale of Shaveh on his return from 
the slaughter of the kings. This was the royal 
priest Melchizedek, concerning whom a great 
diversity of opinion has existed. Suddenly he 
bursts upon us in the history, and then as sud- 
denly disappears. Only once again, after the 
lapse of a thousand years, is he referred to in 
the Old Testament, namely, in the One hun- 
dred and tenth psalm, where the priesthood of 
the Messiah is said to be after the order of 
Melchizedek. The Targums of Jerusalem and 
Pseudo-Jonathan say that Melchizedek was 
Shem— an opinion held by the Jews of Jerome's 
time and adopted by many moderns, but of a 
purely conjectural character, and worthless. 
The name and titles of Melchizedek are Sem- 
itic ; but this does not certainly prove him to 
have been of Semitic descent. The people among 
whom he dwelt, though speaking a Semitic 



tongue, were Canaanites (see on 10 : 6). And even 
supposing the inhabitants of the land, prior to 
the immigration of the Canaanites, to have been 
Semitic (12 : e), it would not necessarily follow 
that Melchizedek must have sprung from such 
original Semitic stock ; for there were worship- 
ers of the true God besides the Israelites, who 
retained the patriarchal faith, as Abinielech, 
king of Gerar ; Jethro, the Midianite ; Balaam, 
from the mountains of Assyria ; and Job, the 
Arab. 

The most commonly received and acceptable 
view is that Melchizedek was a Canaanitish 
king who had retained the worship of the true 
God, and combined in his own person the offices 
of king and priest. In the seventh chapter of 
the Epistle to the Hebrews, the writer shows the 
preeminence of Christ's priesthood over that of 
Aaron, by pointing out the remarkable coin- 
cidences subsisting between what is here re- 
lated of Melchizedek, and what he affirmed of 
Christ. The following points of resemblance 
are noticed : 1. Melchizedek was not of the 
Levitical order — was before the law, and a Gen- 
tile priest, and therefore the most fitting type of 
a universal priesthood ; 2. He was superior to 
Abram — blessed and took tithes of him ; 3. He 
united in himself the offices of king and priest ; 
4. He was eminently suited by his names, " king 
of righteousness and king of peace," to be a 
type of the Son of God ; 5. Genealogically speak- 
ing, he was without father, without mother, 
having neither beginning of days nor end of 
life. That is, deriving his office from no prede- 
cessor and delivering it to no successor, he 
stands before us in the sacred record single and 
alone, as constituting an order of priesthood in 
himself, and in this respect as " made like unto 
the Son of God." 

King of Salem ; that is, of Jerusalem. So 
think Josephus, Onkelos, and all the Targums. 
The name — which is very ancient — occurs in 
Ps. 76 : 2, and is retained in the compound word 
Jerusalem. 

And h e was prie st. This is the first occur- 
rence in the Bible of the term priest, jH'3, kohen. 
It is afterward applied both to the Levitical 



130 



GENESIS 



[Ch. XV. 



19 And he blessed hini, and said, Blessed be 
Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven 
and earth : 

20 And blessed be the most high God, which hath 
delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he 
gave him tithes of all. 

21 And the king of Sodom said unto Abram, Give 
me the persons, and take the goods to thyself. 

22 And Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have 
lifted up mine hand unto the Lord, the most high 
God, the possessor of heaven and earth, 

23 That I will not take from a thread even to a 
shoelatchet, and that I will not take any thing 
that is thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made 
Abram rich: 

24 Save only that which the young men have 
eaten, and the portion of the men which went with 
me, Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre ; let them take their 
portion. 



19 And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram 
of God Most High, possessor of heaven and 

20 earth : and blessed be God Most High, which 
hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. 

21 And he gave him a tenth of all. And the king 
of Sodom said unto Abram, Give me the per- 

22 sons, and take the goods to thyself. And Abram 
said to the king of Sodom, I have lift up mine 
hand unto the Lord, God Most High, possessor 

23 of heaven and earth, that I will not take a 
thread nor a shoelatchet nor aught that is thine, 
lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abram 

24 rich : save only that which the young men have 
eaten, and the portion of the men which went 
with me ; Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre, let them 
take their portion. 



CHAPTER XV. 

1 AFTER these things the word of the Lord came | 1 AFTER these things the word of the Lord 



priesthood (Lev. i : 5) and to the priesthood of 
false religions (i Sam. 5:5). The priest is one 
who acts as mediator between God and man, his 
chief business being to offer sacrifice and to in- 
tercede. There is, indeed, no distinct mention 
here of sacrifice ; but as sacrifice was a rite of 
common use among the patriarchs, we may 
reasonably conclude that Melchizedek was a 
sacrificing priest. The priesthood of the patri- 
archs seems to have been that of the head of the 

family (8 : 20 ; 12 : 8 ; 22 : 2 ; 26 : 25 ; 33 : 20 ; Job 1 : 5). 

Of the most high God, of God Most High. 
Here we have a new name of God, h#, 'el, 
(the Strong One, cognate with Elohim), and a 
new title, \vhy, 'Elyon (the Most High). The 
former is used both for the God of the Hebrews 

(Num. 12 : 13 ; 23 : 22 ; Deut. 32 : 18 ; Ps. 89 : 7) and for 

the idols of other nations ( is»- 44 : 10, 15 ; 45 : 20 ; 
46 : 6), though some qualifying attribute or cog- 
nomen is frequently joined to it to denote the 
God of Israel, as |i^ b$, "TP h$, 'El Shadai, 

'El 'Elyon (comp. ver.19, 20, 22 and Ps. 78 : 35). The 

latter stands sometimes alone to designate the 

true God (Num. 24 : 16 ; Deut. 32 : 8 ; Ps. 9:3; 18 : 13 ; 

77 : io) and sometimes in conjunction apposition- 
ally with Elohim (ps. 57 : 3 ; 78 : 56) and Jehovah 

(Ps. 7 : 18; 47: 2). 

20. And he gave him ; that is, Abram gave 
Melchizedek, a tenth of all — a tenth, that is, of 
the spoil which he had taken from the enemy 
(Heb. 7:4). Hereby he practically acknowl- 
edged the divine priesthood of Melchizedek, 
and set an example of the honor and support 
which should be given to those who minister to 
men in spiritual things. His act became an 
authoritative historical precedent among his de- 
scendants ever after. Jacob remembered it at 
Bethel (28 : 22), and Moses incorporated it among 

his Statutes (Lev. 27 : 80-33; Num. 18 : 21-32 ; comp. 1 
Cor. 8 : 13). 



21. The king of Sodom said unto 
Abram, Give me the persons, and take 
the goods to thyself. It was according to 
Arab usage, when a camp had been spoiled, and 
persons and properties carried away, for the 
party who recaptured them to restore the persons 
and retain the property as his own. When 
therefore the king of Sodom made this proposi- 
tion to Abram, he was generous only in appear- 
ance. Abram would restore the goods along 
with the persons rather than be beholden to a 
potentate whose principles were not in accord 
with his own, or give occasion for it to be said 
that he was prompted to the rescue of Lot more 
by the hope of plunder than the spirit of benev- 
olence. 

22. I have lifted up mine hand ; that is, 
I have sworn, from the custom of elevating the 
right hand in the act of taking an oath (Deut. 

32 : 40 ; Ezek. 20 : 5, 6 ; Dan. 12 : 7). UntO the LOE© 

(Jehovah), the most high God (El-Elyon) ; 
thus identifying Jehovah with the God of Mel- 
chizedek. 

23. That I will not take ; lit., if I will 
take. The particle if, DX, 'im, was often used in 
the oath-formula, there being an ellipsis of some 
such expression as " God do so to me and more 

also if" (1 Sam. 3 : 17). 

Chap. 15. Promise of an Heir to 
Abram, and Solemn Covenant of Jeho- 
vah with Him. 1. After these things ; 

that is, the events recorded in the foregoing 
chapter. The expression marks the lapse of 

Undefined time (comp. 22 : 1 ; 39 : 7 ; 40 : 1 ; 48 : 1). 

The word of the Loed ; the first occur- 
rence of this remarkable phrase of frequent sub- 
sequent USe (Exod. 9 : 20 ; Num. 3 : 16 ; Deut. 34 : 5 ; 1 

Sam. 3:1; Ps. 33 : 6). It was commonly employed 
in divine revelations made to the prophets, and 



Ch. XV.] 



GENESIS 



131 



unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: 
1 am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward. 

2 And Abram said, Lord God, what wilt thou 
give me, seeing J go childless, and the steward of 
my house is this Eliezer of Damascus? 

S And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given 
no seed : and, lo, one born in mine house is mine 
heir. 

4 And, behold, the word of the Lord came unto 
him, saying, This shall not be thine heir ; but he 
that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall 
be thine heir. 



came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, 
Abram : I am thy shield, and thy exceeding 

2 great reward. And Abram said, U Lord God, 
what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, 
and he that shall be possessor of my house is 

3 Dammesek Eliezer? And Abram said, Behold, 
to me thou hast given no seed : and, lo, one 

4 born in my house is mine heir. And, behold, 
the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, 
This man shall not be thine heir ; but he that 
shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall 



here introduces a fresh prophetic revelation to 
Abram. 

In a vision. The prophetic message was 
usually presented in this form, whether the 
body was sleeping, waking, or in some inter- 
mediate condition (Num. 12 : 6 ; 24 : 16 ; Job 4 : 13 . 

Acts 22 : 17,18). The term vision seems to indi- 
cate that the revelation did not originate in the 
mind of the prophet — that it was communicated 
ab extra— that it was something that could be 
seen ; hence the prophet was anciently called a 
seer (i Sam. 9:9). Here, evidently, the vision 
was not one in sleep, nor yet in a dream, for 
Abram had his eyes open, and walked forth and 
saw the stars (ver. 5). Apparently the first por- 
tion (to ver. 9) of what is here related occurred in 
the night ; next came obedience to the com- 
mand (ver. 9) on the following day; and then 
the wonderful sleep when the night again super- 
vened (ver. 12-17). 

Keil is of the opinion that the expression ' ' in 
a vision" applies to the whole chapter— that 
the whole process is to be regarded as an in- 
ternal one. But whether this view, or that of 
Knobel that the vision does not begin till ver. 
12 and ends with ver. 16, or that of Wellhausen 
that it is limited to ver. 1-6, be the correct one, 
is of little account, since nothing is dependent 
on the mode in which the revelation was given. 

Fear not, Abram. In a moment of dejec- 
tion Abram may have feared that the kings 
whom he had defeated with far inferior numbers 
might rally again and come upon him with a 
force which he should be unable to resist. This 
assurance, therefore, of divine protection would 
be peculiarly consoling. 

I am thy shield, thy exceeding great 
reward, lit., thy reward, exceeding abun- 
dantly. In these words Jehovah engages him- 
self to stand between Abram and all harm, and 
to be himself to him all good. The word I, oc- 
cupying the first place in the sentence and being 
separately expressed in the original, is thus 
designed to be emphatic. The metaphorical 
designation of Jehovah as a shield is common in 
Scripture, especially in the Psalms (Deut. 33 : 12, 

29 ; 2 Sam. 22 : 3 ; Ps. 3 : 3 ; 5 : 12 ; 28 : 7 ; 38 : 20 ; 47 : 9 ; 



59 : 11 ; 84 : 9, 11 ; 115 : 9 ; 119 : 114 : 144 : 2). The 

rendering "thy reward is exceeding great," 
which some prefer, though consistent with the 
original, does not yet so clearly bring out the 
prominent thought of the promise, that it was 
Jehovah himself, and not the great things which 
he would give, who should be Abram' s all-suf- 
ficient reward. 

2. O Lord God (nliT ^X, Adonai Jeho- 
vah), what wilt thou give me, seeing I go 
childless? These words constitute Abram's 
reply to the foregoing promise. Thinking of his 
childless condition, he said virtually : Of what 
avail are all my earthly possessions, seeing I 
have no child, and when I die all that belongs 
to me will fall into the hands of a stranger ? It 
doubtless seemed quite incomprehensible to the 
patriarch how the promises: "I will make of 
thee a great nation" (12 : 2) ; "J will make thy 
seed as the dust of the earth " (13 : 16), were to 
be fulfilled, as he was already advanced in 
years and still had no heir. Nine years had 
already passed since the promise was first made 
to him, and as yet there were no signs of its ac- 
complishment. 

And the steward {he that shall be possessor, 
or, heir) of my house is this Eliezer of 
Damascus, Dammesek Eliezer. Abram seem- 
ingly began to interpret the promise of God as 
one that should be fulfilled, not in a child of his 
own, but in his adopted heir, who " ruled over 
all that he had" (24 : 2). The designation here 
borne by Eliezer has its explanation in the fact 
that he was a native of Damascus; Abram 
probably took him from that place on his way 
to Palestine (see on 12 : 5). 

3. One born in my house is mine heir. 
This seems to be at variance with fact, since 
Eliezer was not born in Abram's house (comp. 14 : 
1*). In the original, however, the matter is 
plain: it reads "son of my house," which 
means simply that Eliezer was one of Abram's 
family. 

4. This {man) shall not be thine heir. 
The promise of an innumerable progeny to 
Abram, as first addressed to him (13 : 16), was 
somewhat general : it left it uncertain whether 



132 



GENESIS 



[Ch. XV. 



5 And he brought him forth abroad, and said, 
Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou 
be able to number them : and he said unto him, So 
shall thy seed be. 

6 And he believed in the Lord ; and he counted 
it to him for righteousness. 

7 And he said unto him, I am the Lord that 
brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give 
thee this land to inherit it. 

8 And he said, Lord God, whereby shall I know 
that I shall inherit it ? 



5 be thine heir. And he brought him forth 
abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, 
and tell the stars, if thou be able to tell them : 
and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. 

6 And he believed in the Lord ; and he counted 

7 it to him for righteousness. And he said unto 
him, I am the Lord that brought thee out of Ur 
of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to in- 

8 herit it. And he said, O Lord God, whereby 



it should be by the increase of a natural or an 
adopted seed. Now, however, his doubts on this 
point are fully resolved by the explicit assurance 
that his heir should spring from his own body. 

5. No comparisons could be employed or de- 
vised which would more strongly image forth 
the vast future increase of Abram's descendants 
than the ones accompanying this promise — 
" the dust of the earth " (13 : 16) and the stars of 
the sky. The latter is repeated in 22 : 17 ; 26 : 
4 ; Exod. 32 : 13 ; comp. Deut. 10 : 22 ; 1 Chron. 
27 : 23 ; Neh. 9 : 23. The promise doubtless re- 
spected both the natural and spiritual seed of 
Abram, though it was to have its highest fulfil- 
ment in the multiplication of the latter (comp. 

Gal. 3 : 7, 29; Rom. 4 : 18). 

6. He believed in the Lord. The root 
of the word {DK, 'aman, rendered believed, signi- 
fies to be firm, stable, sure ; and in the Hiphil 
conjugation (as here) to hold as firm, to act 
upon as firm, hence to believe and rely upon as 
true and stable (Ges. Thes., p. 114). Abram 
now rested upon the divine promise, and appro- 
priated its as yet unseen contents. Believing 
that nothing could obstruct the purpose of him 
who had created the stars, the impossibility 
which nature seemed to interpose between his 
hopes and their fulfilment gave him no more 
concern. This simple act of believing without 
seeing has been through thousands of years the 
great example of faith to the church of God. 

And he counted it to him for right- 
eousness. By some these words are under- 
stood to mean that Abram's faith was a right- 
eousness in itself, and that the Lord so regarded 
it. But this is a very inadequate view of the 
expression, and differs widely from Paul's inter- 
pretation Of it (Rom. 4:3; Gal. 3:6; comp. James 2 : 23). 

Abram's faith did not make him personally 
righteous; it simply brought him into such 
relation to the gracious God whose promises 
he had believed, that God could treat him as 
righteous. His faith was imputed to him for 
righteousness. For this meaning of 3E?n, cha- 
shabh, here rendered counted, see Ps. 106 : 31 ; 
comp. Lev. 7 : 18; 17 : 4; 2 Sam. 19 : 19; Ps. 
32 :2. 
It were a narrowing of the meaning of our 



passage to suppose that Abram was counted as 
righteous simply for believing the promise of a 
numerous posterity and the land of Canaan for 
a possession. The promise included much 
more, and Abram's faith saw much more in it. 
It was not simply a seed, but the seed, which is 
Christ, upon whom his faith fastened (Gai. 3:i6). 
So the Saviour declares that Abram rejoiced to 
see his day and was glad (John 8 : 56), and the 
apostle speaks of the gospel which before was 
preached unto Abraham (Gai. 3 ; 8). 

It must not be supposed that now for the first 
time Abram believed and was accepted of God. 
Several years before this, by faith he obeyed the 
divine call to leave his native country and 
sojourn in a strange land (Heb. n : 8). His faith 
in fact, comprehended not only the promise now 
given, but all the previous promises to which it 
was related (12 : 3). He seems now possibly for 
the first time clearly and implicitly to have 
received and rested in the promise of a seed and 
consequently of a Saviour. The apostle may 
have specially noticed this instance of faith, 
because from the nature of the case there was no 
opportunity of action. 

Abram's faith was counted for righteousness 
on precisely the same principle by which the 
justification of believers is explained in the 
New Testament. [Abram trusted so far as he 
had light. This proved that he had the dispo- 
sition which would have led him to believe on 
Christ had he been fully revealed. In a case of 
this kind, Christ was as a lamb " slain from the 
foundation of the world" (Rev. 13 : s)]. 

8. Whereby shall I know that I shall 
inherit it? This question is not to betaken 
as implying that Abram had lapsed from his 
faith. Chrysostom has correctly paraphrased 
the words thus: "I firmly believe that what 
thou hast promised shall come to pass, and 
therefore I ask no questions from distrust. But 
I shall be glad to be favored with some such 
token or anticipation of it, as may strongly 
affect my senses, and raise and strengthen my 
weak and feeble apprehensions of this great 
matter." The symbolical transaction which 
was ordered in connection with the covenant 
into which the Lord entered with Abram, by 



Ch. XV.] 



GENESIS 



133 



9 And lie said unto him, Take me a heifer of 
three years old, and a she goat of three years old, 
and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and 
a voung pigeon. 

10 And he took unto him all these, and divided 
them in the midst, and laid each piece one against 
another : bnt the birds divided he not. 

11 And when the fowls came down upon the 
carcasses, Abram drove them away. 

12 And when the sun was going down, a deep 
sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, a horror of great 
darkness fell upon him. 

13 And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety 
that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is 
not theirs, and shall serve them ; and they shall 
afflict them four hundred years ; 



9 shall I know that I shall inherit it? And he 
said unto him, Take me an heifer of three years 
old, and a she-goat of three years old, and a ram 
of three years old, and a turtledove, and a young 

10 pigeon. And he took him all these, and divided 
them in the midst, and laid each half over 
against the other : but the birds divided he not. 

11 And the birds of prey came down upon the car- 

12 cases, and Abram drove them away. And when 
tiie sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon 
Abram ; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell 

13 upon him. And he said unto Abram, Know of 
a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a 
land that is not theirs, and shall serve them ; 
and they shall afflict them four hundred years ; 



being preserved in the memory of his descend- 
ants, would be regarded by them as a standing 
infallible token of the fulfilment of the great 
promise. Not infrequently has God been gra- 
ciously pleased to grant such tokens to his peo- 
ple in confirmation of their faith (see judg. 6 : 14- 

21, 36-40; 2 Kings 20 : 8-11). 

9-11. These verses describe the most ancient 
form of ratifying a covenant of which we have 
any knowledge. 1 Certain animals were slain 
and divided lengthwise into two equal parts, as 
butchers divide a sheep ; these parts were placed 
opposite to each other, and the covenanting 
parties entering at the opposite extremities of 
the passage thus formed, met in the middle and 
there took the oath (comp. jer. 34 : 13-20). The 
language of the transaction was virtually this : 
" As the bodies of these animals are cut asunder, 
so may our bodies be mutilated in case we prove 
perfidious." 

9. Three years old ; that is, a perfect ani- 
mal in respect of maturity. The animals here 
mentioned are those afterward prescribed for sac- 
rifice by the law (Lev. 1:2-7; 12 : 6-8 ; 14 : 4-7). The 
non-dividing of the birds was in accordance 
with the ritual law afterward instituted (Lev. i : 
it). The two birds were probably regarded as 
one part of the sacrifice, and were placed, each 
as the half, opposite each other. Under the law 
the sheep and goats which were offered in sacri- 
fice were commonly one year old, and the bul- 
locks three ; on this occasion, as marking the 
perfection of the offering, all the animals were 
of the perfect age of three years. 

11. Abram drove them away, that the 
victims might be preserved pure and unmuti- 
lated for the purpose they were intended to serve. 
The birds of prey, seeking to devour the sacri- 
fice before the covenant was ratified, are gener- 
ally supposed to symbolize the enemies of Israel, 
especially the Egyptians. 

12. And when the sun was going down ;, 



lit., was about to set (Driver, § 204)). On the 
previous night Abram had been led forth to view 
the stars (ver. 5) ; during the day he has slain 
and arranged the appointed victims ; and now 
watching that they be not plundered nor pol- 
luted, and waiting till God should condescend to 
appear, his eyelids grow heavy, and he falls into 
a profound slumber. This statement of the time 
(the setting of the sun — too early for natural 
sleep) may have been to show that the darkness 
and sleep were supernatural. 

A deep sleep fell npon Abram. The 
Hebrew term nDTiri, tardema, is the same 
with that employed in 2 : 21 to designate the 
state into which Adam "was thrown when Eve 
was taken from his side. 

A horror of great darkness fell upon 
him ; no unusual accompaniment of prophetic 

trances (comp. Job 4 : 13 ; 33:15; Dan. 10:8). The 

immediate occasion of this horror was probably 
the revelation which follows of the sufferings to 
be inflicted upon his descendants in Egypt. 

13. Thy seed shall be a stranger in a 
land not theirs. The land here referred to, 
though not named, is doubtless Egypt. And 
shall serve them (the Egyptians) ; and 
they shall afflict them (the Hebrews). 

Four hundred years ; the prophetic round 
number for the more exact historical period of 
four hundred and thirty years named in Exod. 

12 : 40 (comp. Gal. 3: 17). 

It is not exactly clear from what date this 
period is to be reckoned. Some regard it as 
dating from the promise recorded in 12 : 3, 
which was two hundred and fifteen years before 
the entrance of the Israelites into Egypt, thus 
leaving two hundred and fifteen years for their 
actual stay in Egypt. Others contend that their 
actual stay in Egypt was four hundred and thirty 
years, reckoned from the time of their entrance 
into it. 

In favor of the shorter period, the following 



640) 



1 The Iliad of Homer contains allusions to a similar form (Book II., 124 ; III., 291-301 ; comp. Vir., Mn. 



134 



GENESIS 



[Ch. XV. 



14 And also that nation, whom they shall serve, 
will I judge : and afterward shall they come out 
with great substance. 

15 And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace ; 
thou shalt be buried in a good old age. 

16 But in the fourth generation they shall come 
hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is 
not yet full. 



14 and also that nation, whom they shall serve, 
will I judge : and afterward shall they come out 

15 with great substance. But thou shalt go to thy 
fathers in peace ; thou shalt be buried in a good 

16 old age. And in the fourth generation thev 
shall come hither again : for the iniquity of the 



are the principal reasons commonly adduced : 
First the statement of Paul in Gal. 3 : 17, in 
which the four hundred and thirty years men- 
tioned are understood to date from the time of 
Abram's entrance into Canaan. Secondly, the 
Septuagint rendering of Exod. 12 : 40, which ap- 
pears to confirm the foregoing view regarding 
the four hundred and thirty years as made up 
of the time spent by the Israelites in Canaan 
and in the land of Egypt. Thirdly, Num. 26 : 
59, in which the mother of Moses is called "the 
daughter of Levi, who was born to Levi in 
Egypt," so that four hundred and thirty years 
could not have elapsed between Levi and Moses. 
It is also urged that, if the Israelites were four 
hundred and thirty years in Egypt, then, as 
Moses was eighty years old when Ire left it, be- 
tween his birth and his great-grandfather Levi, 
who was above forty when he came to Egypt, a 
period of three hundred and fifty years must 
have intervened, which is incredible. Fourthly, 
the genealogical table in Exod. 6 : 16-20, from 
which it seems that Aaron and Moses belonged 
to the fourth generation after Levi, which would 
not allow a period of four hundred and thirty 
years from the time of Jacob's going into Egypt, 
but may have amounted to two hundred and fif- 
teen years. 

To all which those favoring the longer period 
are wont to reply : First, the statement of Paul 
in Gal. 3 : 17 must be understood as including 
the whole period of the promises to Abraham, 
Isaac, and Jacob ; and the four hundred and 
thirty years must be reckoned from the last, 
which was addressed to Jacob at Beersheba, on 
his way to Egypt (±6 : 1-4). Secondly, the Sep- 
tuagint version is not equally authoritative with 
the Hebrew original. The express statement in 
Exod. 12 : 40 is that " the sojourning of the chil- 
dren of Israel, which they sojourned in Egypt, 
was four hundred and thirty years." Thirdly, 
in regard to Num. 26 : 59, in which Jochebed, 
the wife of Amram, is called the "daughter of 
Levi," the meaning is simply that she was a 
Levite — which view is confirmed by the imper- 
sonal manner in which the Hebrew states the 
fact. If this passage be taken literally, we must 
believe not merely that Amram married his 
aunt, but that he married her when she was 
over eighty years of age. Fourthly (what is 



true of many of the genealogical tables of Scrip- 
ture), the table in Exod. 6: 16-20 must be re- 
garded as simply a compendium, in which, ap- 
parently, one name is given for a century. 
Thus, Levi, Kohath, Amram, Moses. So again, 
Judah, Zerah, Zabdi, Carmi, whose son Achan, 
in Joshua's time, stole some of the spoils of 
Jericho (Josh. 7:i). The probability is that in 
this genealogy some generations are omitted. 

A comparison of the genealogy in Exod. 6 : 
16-20 with Num. 3 : 27, 28, also tells for the 
longer period. On the supposition that the Is- 
raelites were only two hundred and fifteen years 
in Egypt, the descendants of Kohath, who, on 
this theory, was the grandfather of Moses, num- 
bered over seventeen thousand, which would 
give Moses several thousand brothers, sisters, 
nephews, and nieces. The longer period seems 
necessary to account for the number of the male 
Kohathites from a month old and upward, 
which was eight thousand and six hundred. 

14. Afterward shall they come out with 
great substance. A promise substantially 
repeated to Moses (Exod. 3 : 21, 22) for the fulfil- 
ment of which see Exod. 12 : 35, 36 ; comp. Ps. 
105 : 37. 

15. And thou shalt go to thy fathers in 

peace. (Comp. 25 : 8 : 35 : 29 ; 49 : 33 : Num. 20 : 24, 26 ; 

3i: 2; Luke 20: 37, 38.) These words mean that 
Abram should meet his fathers in the abode of 
departed spirits. If the existence of his fathers 
had ceased with the return of their bodies to the 
dust, the passage would be meaningless. The 
verse distinguishes between being gathered to 
the company of the departed, and the interment 
of the body. Abram was not to be buried in the 
same grave with his fathers. In 25 : 9 it is stated 
that his sons " buried him in the cave of Mach- 
pelah, in the field of Ephron," which was in the 
land of Canaan (comp. 49 : 30), while all his fore- 
fathers died and were buried in Mesopotamia. 

16. The iniquity of the Amorites is not 
yet full. The Amorites, the most powerful of 
the tribes of Canaan, are here put for the Canaan- 
itish people in general. Abram is here in- 
formed of the cause of the delay of the fulfil- 
ment of the promise. His descendants were not 
to obtain possession of the promised land till 
four or five hundred years should go by ; for 
not until then would the Canaanites, who were 



Ch. XV.] 



GENESIS 



135 



17 And it came to pass, that, when the sun went 
down, audit was dark, behold a smoking furnace, 
and a burning lamp that passed between those 
pieces. 

18 In that same day the Lord made a covenant 
with Abram, saying,' Unto thy seed have I given 
this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great 
river, the river Euphrates : 



[ 17 Amorite is not yet full. And it came to pass, 
that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, 
behold a smoking furnace, and a flaming torch 
18 that passed between these pieces. In that day 
the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, 
Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the 
river of Egypt unto the great river, the river 



already sunk in the grossest immoralities (is : 20) f 
be ripe for the sentence of extermination. Dur- 
ing this long period the longsuifering of God 
would wait for them, giving them ample space 
for repentance (6 : 3), by rightly improving 
which they might escape the impending judg- 
ment, as did Rahab (Josh. 2 : 9-13 ; 6 : 25). [Before 
they were exterminated the Canaanites became 
hopelessly bad. It was in mercy as well as 
judgment that they were cut off in order to stop 
the onflow of their wickedness down through 
descendants and out among the nations through 
the contamination of their evil lives and exam- 
ple.] God used the Israelites as a rod for pun- 
ishing the Canaanites, just as later he thus used 
the Assyrians and Babylonians for punishing 
the Israelites. As the righteous moral Gov- 
ernor, administering the affairs of nations on 
the principle of moral rectitude (Ps. 75 : 7,8 isa. 
60 : 12), God would make the punishment of the 
Canaanites an example and warning to the 
Israelites themselves, and to all nations, of his 
hatred of sin, and of his resolve to punish it. 
A complete answer to the difficulties over this 
question is furnished in Deut. 9 : 4-6, in which 
it is shown that God drove out the Canaanites 
for their wickedness, and put the Israelites in 
their place as an act of grace, thus leaving no 
proper ground of complaining to the former, nor 
of boasting to the latter. 

17. A smoking furnace, and a burning 
lamp. A symbol of the divine presence, that 
passed between the parts of the slaughtered ani- 
mals, in ratification of the covenant. God after- 
ward manifested himself in a similar manner to 

the children of Israel (see Exod. 3:2; 13 : 21 ; comp. 

19 : is). Kurtz regards this as the first appear- 
ance of the Shekinah. 

The Hebrew word, "^3fl, tannur, here ren- 
dered "furnace," designates a kind of portable 
oven, of cylindrical shape, much in use among 
the Orientals for baking and other culinary 
purposes. The word occurs fifteen times in the 
Hebrew Bible, and in every instance it refers to 
this kind of oven, though in this passage and 

five Others (Neh. 3 : ll ; 12 : 38 ; Ps. 21 : 9 ; Isa. 31 : 9 ; 

Mai. 3 : 19) it is rendered " furnace " in the Re- 
vised version. The proper Hebrew word for a 
smelting furnace is "VP, fair, which is always 
employed wherever a people are said metaphori- 



cally to be cast into a furnace (Ezek. 22 : 18-22) or 

delivered OUt of One ( Deut. 4 : 20 ; 1 Kings 8 : 51 ; Jer. 

11 ■*). Accordingly the former of these terms 
cannot be taken here as symbolizing the afflic- 
tion of the Israelites in Egypt, as many com- 
mentators think. It will be observed that this 
covenant was made, not as usually, by both par- 
ties passing between the divided animals ; God 
alone passed through, and not Abram, because 
the covenant was one of grace, in which God 
assumed all the obligations, while Abram re- 
ceived all the benefits. It was God's covenant 
with Abram, and not Abram's covenant with 
God. 

18. In that same day the Lord made 
a covenant (lit., cut a covenant, from the 
animals being cut in twain) with Abram. 
Hitherto, in these comments, three covenants 
have been considered. The first was made with 
Adam, the terms of which were, do and live, 
sin and die (2: W; isa. 1 :i9). The second was 
made with Noah — without conditions, and is 
fulfilled to this day (9 : 8-17). The third- 
called by the apostle the covenant of promise in 
distinction from the law, which is called the 
covenant of works, and forming, with the sig- 
nificant truths to which it pointed, the founda- 
tion of justifying faith for many ages — was made 
with Abram, and was also without conditions 
(see on 12 : i-3). Of the three particulars em- 
braced in this covenant, namely, a land, a 
numerous posterity, and a coming Saviour, our 
verse has special reference to the first — the grant 
of the land of Canaan to Abram's descendants. 
Unto thy seed have I given this land. So 
certain of fulfilment was the act that it is re- 
garded as already accomplished ; hence the use 
of the perfect in promises, contracts, etc. ; see 
Driver, § 13 ; Green, §262 b ; comp. 23 : 11 ; 
Ruth 4 : 3. 

From the river of Egypt unto the great 
river. By " the river, 1HJ, nahar, of Egypt " 
is here meant, not the " brook, bt\l, nachal, of 
Egypt," that is, the Wady el Arish, mentioned 
in Num. 34 : 5 ; Josh. 15 : 4; 1 Kings 8 : 65, 
but the Nile. So insignificant a stream as the 
Wady el Arish would not be called iru, nahar 
(a river). The territory of the Hebrews was to 
comprise all the country between these two 
rivers. In the time of David and Solomon all 



136 



GENESIS 



[Ch. XVI. 



19 The Kenites, and the Keuizzites, and the 
Kadmonites, 

20 And the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the 
Rephaim, 

21 And the Amorites, and the Canaanices, and 
the Girgashites, and the Jebusites. 



19 Euphrates : the Kenite, and the Kenizzite, and 

20 the Kadnionite, and the Hittite, and the Periz- 

21 zite, and the Rephaim, and the Amorite, and the 
Canaanite, and the Girgashite, and the Jebusite. 



CHAPTER XVI. 



1 NOW Sarai, Abraro's wife, bare him no chil- 
dren : and she had a handmaid, an Egyptian, whose 
name was Hagar. 

2 And Sarai said unto Abram, Behold now, the 
Lord hath restrained me from bearing : I pray 
thee, go in unto my maid ; it] may be that I may 
obtain children by her. And Abram hearkened to 
the voice of Sarai. 

3 And Sarai, Abram's wife, took Hagar her maid 
the Egyptian, after Abram had dwelt ten years in 
the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband 
Abram to be his wife. 



1 NOW Sarai Abram's wife bare him no chil- 
dren: and she had an handmaid, an Egyptian, 

2 whose name was Hagar. And Sarai said unto 
Abram, Behold now, the Lord hath restrained 
me from bearing ; go in, I pray thee, unto my 
handmaid ; it may be that I shall obtain chil- 
dren by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice 

3 of Sarai. And Sarai Abram's wife took Hagar the 
Egyptian, her handmaid, after Abram had dwelt 
ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to 



the kings between these rivers were tributary to 

the Israelitish kings (see 1 Kings 8 : 65 ; 2 Chron. 
9 : 26). 

19-21. These verses specify the principal 
nations by whom the territory w T as occupied. 

The Kenites. Nothing is known of the 
Kenites in the days of Abraham. They inhab- 
ited the mountainous tracts south of Palestine, 
near the Amalekites (Num. 24 : 21 ; 1 Sam. 15 : 6; 
27 : 10). Hobab, the brother-in-law of Moses, 
was a Kenite (Juag. 1 : 16 ; 4 : 11). 

The Kenizzites. A people of Edom, de- 
scendants of Kenas (36 : 11). They are men- 
tioned again in Num. 32 : 12 ; Josh. 14 : 6, 14, 
where Jephunneh, the father of Caleb, is called 
" the Kenizzite." 

The Kadmonites. Mentioned here only. 
The name means eastern, from which it is sup- 
posed that they occupied the eastern part of 
this territory. 

The Hittites. (See on 10 : 15.) 

The Perizzites. (see on 13 : 7.) 

The Rephaim. (see on u : 5.) 

The Canaanites. (see on 10 : 15; 19.) 

The Amorites, the Girgashites, the 

JebUSiteS. (See on 10 : 16.) 



Chap. 16. The Birth op Ishmael. 1. 
A handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name 
was Hagar. Hagar, a Semitic name, was 
not probably the real name of this Egyptian 
handmaid, for Egyptian parents would not be 
likely to give a Hebrew name to their child. 
The name probably became hers in process of 
time from the leading event in her history here 
recorded. It signifies flight, from Ijn, hagar, 
to flee. Hence, also, " Hegira," applied to the 



flight of Mohammed from Mecca to Medina. 
Her descendants were called Hagarites or 
Hagarenes (i Chron. 5 : 10 ; Ps. S3 : 6) from the same 
root. According to patriarchal custom, which 
kept the male and female departments of fami- 
lies somewhat distinct, she belonged to Sarai as 
she did not to Abram, and was subject entirely 
to her direction and control. Thus likewise 
Bilhah and Zilpah were respectively hand- 
maids or female head-servants to Rachel and 
Leah, the daughters of Laban (30 : 3, 9). I n 
such cases, so intimate was the relation between 
the mistress and her servant that the children 
of the latter by the husband of the former were 
reckoned as those of the mistress (so : 3, 6, 8). It 
was subsequently enacted under the law that 
the children of the bond-servant should be 
accounted the children of the master (Exod. 21 : 4). 

2. It may be that I shall obtain chil- 
dren (Heb., be builded) by her. In keeping 
with the figure which styles the family a house, 
the begetting of children is building the house. 
The same allusion is conveyed in the Hebrew 
word for son, and its feminine form for daughter, 
from a verb meaning to build (see 30 : 3 ; Exod. 

1 : 21 ; Deut. 25 : 5 ; Ruth 4 : 11 ; 2 Sam. 7 : 11 ; 1 Kings 

2 : 24; 11 : 38). 

3. To be his wife. 1 That is, a secondary 
wife, or one of inferior rank. The wife filling 
this relation is afterward designated by another 
term, \DJh?B,pilegesh, generally rendered concu- 
bine (22 : 24 ; 25 : 6 ; 35 : 22 ; Judg. 19 : 1, 2 ; 2 Sam. 

15, 16). The first wife differed from the second- 
ary (1) "in power over the family, which be- 
longed solely to the former ; (2) in the manner 
of espousal, which in the case of the former was 
accompanied by solemn rights of espousal and 



1 [It is now known that Sarah, in suggesting that Hagar bear children to Abraham which should be 
reckoned as those of Sarah herself, was but following the established custom of the kingdom of Babylon. 
The exact provision for this arrangement is found in the Code of Khammu-rabi— the Amraphel of Gen. 14, 
a contemporary of Abraham— who gathered up the established practices into a body of laws.] 



Ch. XVI.] 



GENESIS 



137 



4 And he went in unto Hagar, and she conceived : 
and when she saw that she had conceived, her 
mistress was despised in her eyes. 

5 And Sarai said unto Abram, My wrong be upon 
thee ; I have given my maid into thy bosom ; and 
when she saw that she had conceived, I was de- 
spised in her eyes: the Lord judge between me 
and thee. 

6 But Abram said unto Sarai, Behold, thy maid 
is in thy hand ; do to her as it pleaseth thee. And 
when Sarai dealt hardly with her, she fled from 
her face. 

7 And the angel of the Lord found her by a 
fountain of water in the wilderness, by the foun- 
tain in the way to Shur. 

8 And he said, Hagar, Sarai's maid, whence 
earnest thou? and whither wilt thou go ? And she 
said, I flee from the face of my mistress Sarai. 

9 And the angel of the Lord said unto her, Re- 
turn to thy mistress, and submit thyself under her 
hands. 



4 Abram her husband to be his wife. And he went 
in unto Hagar, and she conceived ; and when she 
saw that she had conceived, her mistress was 

5 despised in her eyes. And Sarai said unto 
Abram, My wrong" be upon thee : I gave my 
handmaid into thy bosom ; and when she saw 
that she had conceived, I was despised in her 
eyes: the Lord judge between me and thee, 

6 But Abram said unto Sarai, Behold, thy maid is 
in thy hand ; do to her that which is good in 
thine eyes. And Sarai dealt hardly with her, 

7 and she fled from her face. And the angel of 
the Lord found her by a fountain of water in 
the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to 

8 Shur. And he said, Hagar, Sarai's handmaid, 
whence earnest thou? and whither goest thou? 
And she said, I flee from the face of my mistress 

9 Sarai. And the angel of the Lord said unto 
her, Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself 



liberal gifts of dowry ; and (3) in privilege of 
issue, the offspring of the secondary wife having 
no title to inherit." Sarai, possessing the right 
of disposing of Hagar as she pleased, voluntarily 
exercised this right in offering her to Abram. 
The act was her own, and she was the first to 
reap the bitter fruit of her device. 

Abram had now been ten years in Canaan, and 
was eighty-five years old, while Sarai was sev- 
enty-five — a note of time (ver. 16) probably in- 
tended to explain their impatience in waiting 
for the promised seed. 

4. Her mistress was despised in her 
eyes. Among the Hebrews barrenness was re- 
garded as a dishonor and reproach (so : l, 23) f 
and fecundity as a special mark of the divine 

favor (21 : 6 ; 24 : 60 ; Exod. 23 : 26 ; Deut. 7 : 14). 

5, 6. My wrong (the wrong done to me) be 
upon thee. These words imply that Sarai ex- 
pected Abram to shield her from the insults of 
Hagar. Her reasoning is that to her self-deny- 
ing act Abram was indebted for his prospect of 
an heir, and Hagar for the ground of her inso- 
lent rejoicing. It should be noticed that al- 
though Abram had received the promise of a 
son, he had not yet been told that Sarai was to 
be the mother of that son ; and he may have 
supposed that the course which was taken was in 
full accord with the divine intention. 

Abram, who manifestly hated domestic strife, 
reminds Sarai that Hagar was still her servant 
and in her power — a power which Sarai pro- 
ceeded forthwith to use severely against her. 

7. The angel of the Lord. This is the 
first occurrence of the word " angel," ^j^D, 
malak. It literally signifies a messenger — one 
sent or employed on any mission whatever, 
human or divine. It is often applied in Scrip- 
ture to men (2 Sam. 2:5; 11 : 19 ; Hag. 1 : 13 ; Mai. 2 : 

i) ; but more frequently to celestial beings (w : 
l j 32 -. i ; job 4 .- is ; Ps. 9i : ii ). Some commenta- 



tors have supposed "the angel of the Lord" 
here spoken of to be one of the latter — a created 
being, but erroneously, for (1) this angel iden- 
tifies himself with Jehovah (ver. 10) and with 
Elohim (22 : 12) ; (2) he is recognized as divine 
by those to whom he speaks (ver. 13; 18:23-33; 

Exod. 3 : 2, 6; Judg. 6 : 15, 20-23 ; 13 : 22) ; (3) the 

sacred writers constantly speak of him as divine, 

Calling him Jehovah (16 : 13 ; .18 : 1 ; 22 : 16 ; Exod. 

3:4; Judg. 6 : 12). He is the guide of the patri- 
archs (48 : 16) ; the Caller Of Moses (Exod. 3:2); 

the leader of the people through the wilderness 

(Exod. 14 : 19 ; 23 : 20 ; 33 : 14 ; Isa. 63 : 9) ; the cham- 
pion of the Israelites in Canaan (Josh. 5 : 13) ; 
and their subsequent guide and ruler (Judg. 2:1; 

7 : 11 ; 13 : 3). 

"It is observable," says J. P. Smith, "that 
when celestial creatures are spoken of as a 
class, they are called angels— angels of God, 
and his angels ; but we never meet with the 
plural phrase, Angels of Jehovah. This person, 
the Angel of the Lord, claims an uncontrolled 
sovereignty over the affairs of men. He has the 
attribute of omniscience and omnipotence ; he 
performs works which only omnipotence could ; 
he uses awful formulae, by which the Deity, on 
various occasions, condescended to confirm the 
faith of those to whom the primitive revelations 
were given ; he ' sweareth by himself.' He 
is the gracious Protector and Saviour, the Ee- 
deemer of evil, the Intercessor, and the Author 
of the most desirable blessings. . . He is the 
object of religious invocation; he is, in the 
most express manner and repeatedly, declared 
to be Jehovah, God, the ineffable I am that I 
AM. Yet this mysterious person is represented 
as distinct from God, and acting (as the term 
angel imports) under a divine mission." 

In the way to Shur. Shur signifies wall. 
The wilderness which bore its name lay on the 
way between Palestine and Egypt, and not far 



138 



GENESIS 



[Ch. XVII. 



10 And the angel of the Lord said unto her, I 
will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall 
not be numbered for multitude. 

11 And the angel of the Lord said unto her, Be- 
hold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and 
shalt call his name Ishmael ; because the Lord 
hath heard thy affliction. 

12 And he will be a wild man ; his hand will be 
against every man, and every man's hand against 
him: and he shall dwell in the presence of all his 
brethren. 

13 And she called the name of the Lord that 
spake unto her, Thou God seest me : for she said, 
Have I also here looked after him that seeth me? 

14 Wherefore the well was called Beer-la-hai-roi : 
behold, it is between Kadesh and Bered. 

15 And Hagar bare Abram a son : and Abram 
called his son's name, which Hagar bare, Ishmael. 

16 And Abram ivas fourscore and six years old, 
when Hagar bare Ishmael to Abram. 



10 under her hands. And the angel of the Lord 
said unto her, I will greatly multiply thy seed, 
that it shall not be numbered for multitude. 

11 And the angel of the Lord said unto her, Be- 
hold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son ; 
and thou shalt call his name Ishmael, because 

12 the Lord hath heard thy affliction. And he 
shall be as a wild-ass among men ; his hand 
shall be against every man, and everv man's 
hand against him; and he shall dwell in the 

13 presence of all his brethren. And she called 
the name of the Lord that spake unto her, 
Thou art a God that seeth : for she said, Have I 
even here looked after him that seeth me? 

14 Wherefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi ; 

15 behold, it is between Kadesh and Bered. And 
Hagar bare Abram a son : and Abram called the 
name of his sen, which Hagar bare, Ishmael. 

16 And Abram was fourscore and six years old, 
when Hagar bare Ishmael to Abram. 



CHAPTER XVII. 



1 AND when Abram was ninety years old and 
nine, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto 



1 AND when Abram was ninety years old and 
nine, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said 



from the latter country (20 : i ; 25 : 18; 1 Sam. 15 : 
7). Hagar was returning, therefore, to her 
native land. 

10. I will multiply thy seed exceed- 
ingly. Language proper only to the Lord him- 
self, and encouraging Hagar to expect a portion 
of Abram' s blessing. See parallel promise in 
17 : 20. This promise was speedily fulfilled in 
the rapid increase of Ishmael' s direct descend- 
ants. Isaac, the favored brother of Ishmael, 
had only two sons, Jacob and Esau, while Ish- 
mael had twelve sons, who became princes and 
gave their names to as many tribes (25 .- is-16). 
About one hundred and seventy years after this 
declaration to Hagar, Jacob's sons numbered 
twelve, while the descendants of Ishmael had 
increased sufficiently to become a trading nation 

(37 : 25). 

12. He will be a wild man, better, he 

shall be as a wild ass among men ; that is, wild 
and fierce as the wild ass of the desert. This 
animal swift, free, wild-roving, and only with 
great difficulty taken or tamed ( see description in 
Job 39 : 5-8), strikingly represents the intense 
love of freedom of the Bedouin Arabs; their 
unrestrained roaming in the wilderness; their 
contempt of every kind of regular, and espe- 
cially city, life ; and their determined inde- 
pendence (comp. Job 11 : 12 ; 24 : 5 ; Isa. 32 : 14 ; Jer. 2 : 
24; Hosea 8:9). 

He shall dwell in the presence of 
all his brethren, lit., in front, or, before the 
face of all his brethren. Some commentators 
render: to the east of all his brethren, thus 
making the words descriptive of Ishmael's geo- 
graphical position (comp. 18 : 19 ; 25 : 18), which is 

unnatural and forced. The meaning is rather 
that Ishmael shall dwell at large, apart from 
and in the sight of all his kindred, maintaining a 



separate and independent existence. By "all 
his brethren" must be understood, not man- 
kind generally, but the other descendants of 
Abram, namely, the Israelites, Midianites, 
Edomites, etc. 

13. Thou God seest me, or, thou art a 
God that seeth; Heb., thou art a God of vision, 
or rather of visibility; that is, the God who 
sufferest thyself to be seen. The word here ren- 
dered that seeth is leally an abstract noun, 
meaning vision. Hagar, believing that no man 
could see God and live (Exoa. 20 : 19 ; 33 : 20), was 
astonished that she had seen God and remained 
alive. This interpretation agrees with the words 
which follow, which should be rendered : do I 
see (that is, do I live) here after the vision t 
[Driver, Dillmann, Delitzsch, etc., reject the 
interpretation above given as forbidden by the 
Hebrew text, and adopt that of the Bevised 
version] . 

14. Beer-lahai-roi; that is, well of living 
vision— the well where one lived after beholding 

God (comp. 32 : 30; [see ver. 13]). Kadesh. (See 

on 14 : 7.) The site of Bered has not been as- 
certained. 

16. Abram was fourscore and six years 
old. He had therefore to wait fourteen years 
longer before the sight of the child of promise 
should gladden his eyes. 



Chap. 17. The Covenant of Circum- 
cision with Abram and His Posterity. 

1. Abram was ninety years old and 
nine. Thirteen years had now elapsed since 
the birth of Ishmael, and as, during this inter- 
val, there had been apparently no revelation 
from God, Abram had probably abandoned all 
hopes of further issue and settled down in the 
belief that Ishmael was the destined heir (see ver. 



Ch. XVII.] 



GENESIS 



139 



him, I am the Almighty God ; walk before me, and 
be thou perfect. 

2 And I will make my covenant between me and 
thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly. 

3 And Abram fell on his face : and God talked 
with him, saying, 

4 As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, 
and thou shalt be a father of many nations. 

5 Neither shall thy name any more be called 
Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a 
father of many nations have I made thee. 



unto him, I am God Almighty ; wait before me, 

2 and be thou perfect. And I will make my cove- 
nant between me and thee, and will multiply 

3 thee exceedingly. And Abram fell on his face": 

4 and God talked with him, saying, As for me, be- 
hold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt 

5 be the father of a multitude of nations. Neither 
shall thy name any more be called Abram, but 
thy name shall be Abraham ; for the father of a 



is). In this belief, however, he was not to re- 
main. By another revelation, now about to be 
vouchsafed, he would be shown the larger 
meaning of the promise, and learn that not his 
handmaid but his wife, not Hagar but Sarai, 
should be the mother of the promised seed. 

The statement (i6 = 16) that Abram was eighty- 
six years old when Ishmael was born — which 
was eleven years after the promise recorded in 
12:2,3 ; and here that he was ninety-nine years 
old — which was twenty-four years after, though 
unimportant in itself, is significant as showing 
that these were years of anxious waiting for the 
fulfilment of a promise not yet accomplished, 
and of a hope long deferred, yet not abandoned. 
This waiting was to play an important part in 
the discipline of his faith and in the develop- 
ment of his character. No study of Abram's 
life would be complete that should fail to see 
that its leading idea was the trial of his faith 
that it might be perfected and exhibited, and he 
thus become the father of the faithful. 

I am the Almighty God, God Almighty, 
^V3 S«, El-Shaddai. The name El-Shaddai, 
significant of almightiness, is generally em- 
ployed when the power of God is invoked or 

displayed (see 35 : ll ; Ps. 68 : 14 ; 91 : 1 ; Isa. 13 : 6). 

Under this august title the Lord would encour- 
age Abram to believe that no obstacle could 
stand in the way of the complete fulfilment of 
his promises. 

To this passage is the reference in Exod. 6 : 3, 
in which it is declared that God "appeared 
unto Abram, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, as 
God Almighty, but by my name Jehovah I was 
not known to them" — the meaning being, not 
that the name Jehovah was not known to the 
patriarchs, but that its full significance as the 
appellation of Israel's covenant God was now 
first brought out. 

Walk before me, and be thou perfect. 
The promises hitherto addressed to Abram (12 : 1 ; 
13 : 16 ; 15 : 5) were unconditional ; no duties were en- 



joined along with them. In this chapter, where 
they are repeated and enlarged upon, their ful- 
filment is made to depend on his obedience. 
First of all, he is required to walk blamelessly 
before God, to be upright and sincere in heart, 
speech, and behavior — an admonition possibly 
involving a virtual reproof. As if God should 
say to him : " Have recourse to no more unbe- 
lieving expedients ; keep thou the path of up- 
rightness, and leave me to fulfil my promise in 
my own time and way." 

2. I will make my covenant between 
me and thee. The word rendered " make " in 
this passage is different from that rendered 
" made " in 15 : 18. In that passage the expres- 
sion is literally to " cut a covenant" ; in this, it 
is literally to " give my covenant," the meaning 
of the latter being that God would fulfil, estab- 
lish, carry into effect the covenant referred to in 
the former. 

And will multiply thee exceedingly 
(see on 12: 2 ; 15 : 5). Very noticeable in these 
verses (2-8) is the iteration and reiteration of 
the promise of offspring to Abram. The same 
subject is adverted to in verses 15, 16, 19, 21, 
with repeated mention of Sarai as the mother of 
the promised child. Why this explicit and em- 
phatic reiteration ? 1 It was doubtless to reassure 
Abram (and Sarai) after the vain expectation 
and weary waiting of four and twenty years, and 
give them to understand that God had by no 
means forgotten his promi.se, but that it should 
be verily fulfilled and in the grandest way. 

4. As for me ; in the original, merely "I," 
standing alone at the beginning of the sentence 

for emphasis (comp. 6: 17 ; 9: 9; 1 Chron. 22 : 7 ; see 

Ewaid, § 309). It is opposed to " and thou" or, as 
for thee in ver. 9. 

5. Abraham ; meaning father of a multi- 
tude. Abram was the natural progenitor of 
the Israelites and Edomites, as well as of many 
Arabian tribes ; and the spiritual father of all 

believers (Rom. 4: ll, IT ; Gal. 3: 7-9, 14, 16, 29). In 



i The critics, assuming that this is the first and only occasion on which this promise was made to 
Abram, explain its iteration as mere diffuseness on the part of the writer of this chapter, by which char- 
acteristic of style they distinguish him from the author of 12 : 16— an explanation that, as Doctor Green 
remarks, " misses the very point and meaning of the entire passage." 



140 



GENESIS 



[Ch. XVII. 



6 And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I 
will make nations of thee, and kings shall come 
out of thee. 

7 And I will establish my covenant between me 
arid thee and thy seed after thee in their genera- 
tions, for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto 
thee and to thy seed after thee. 

8 And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after 
thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the 
land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession ; and 
I will be their God. 

9 And God said unto Abraham, Thou shalt keep 
my covenant therefore, thou, and thy seed after 
thee in their generations. 

10 This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, be- 
tween me and you and thy seed after thee ; Every 
man child among you shall be circumcised. 



6 multitude of nations have I made thee. And I 
will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will 
make nations of thee, and kings shall come 

7 out of thee. And I will establish my covenant 
between me and thee and thy seed after thee 
throughout their generations for an everlasting 
covenant, to be a God unto thee and to thy seed 

8 after thee. And I will give unto thee, and to 
thy seed after thee, the land of thy sojournings, 
all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting pos- 

9 session ; and I will be their God. And God said 
unto Abraham, And as for thee, thou shalt keep 
my covenant, thou, and thy seed after thee 

10 throughout their generations. This is my cove- 
nant, which ye shall keep, between me and you 
and thy seed after thee ; every male among you 



Eastern countries a change of name is signifi- 
cant of some new circumstance in the history, 
rank, or religion of the individual who bears it. 
Accordingly the name of Abram, the high 
father, is changed to that of Abraham, on his 
being raised to the dignity of father of the mul- 
titude of the faithful. So "Jacob" becomes 
"Israel" from the circumstance related in 32: 
28. The name "Cephas" was authoritatively 
exchanged for that of " Peter" (Matt. 16: 18) ; and 

"Saul" for "Paul" (Acts 13: 9; comp. Isa. 62 : 2; 
Rev. S : 12 ) . 

7. An everlasting covenant, lit, a cov- 
enant of eternity. The meaning of the Hebrew 
term D7>ij7, 'olam, here rendered everlasting, 
rnuet be determined by the subject to which it 
applies. Thus, when it is said (Deut. 15 : 17) : 
" Thou shalt take an awl and thrust it through 
his ear unto the door, and he shall be thy ser- 
vant for ever," the meaning is : he shall be thy 
servant for life. Whatever may be said of the 
duration of the covenant in respect of Abraham's 
natural descendants, with his spiritual seed it is 
everlasting in the largest possible sense (isa. 55 : 

3 ; Gal. 3 : 17 ; Heb. 13: 20). 

8. An everlasting possession. See on 

foregoing verse. The continued permanent pos- 
session of Canaan by the Israelites was de- 
pendent on their fidelity to God. They would 
probably have been dwelling there to this day 
but for their unbelief (i>eut. 28 : 62-68). 

9. As for thee, thou — the other party to the 
covenant, the antithesis to /(ver. 4) — shalt keep 
my covenant. The covenant had been only 
partially established by the covenant-sacrifice 
(15 : 17, is) • for it was God alone, and not 
Abraham who had then assumed a covenant- 
obligation. For the purpose of completing it, 
Abraham, the other contracting party, is now re- 
quired to assume the obligation to keep it ; and 
this prior to the fulfilment of the promise, thus 
still further testing his faith. 

1 0. This is my covenant ; that is, the sign 
of my covenant, as explained in ver. 11, the cov- 



enant itself and its sign being designated by the 
same word, rV13, berith. Thus arose the usage 
of denominating the lamb, the sign of the Pass- 
over, by the name of the Passover itself (Exod. 
12 : 11 ; comp. Matt. 26: 17 ) ? and the cup, the sign of 
the new covenant, by the name of the new cov- 
enant itself (Lute 22 : 20). 

Every man child {male) among you 
shall be circumcised. A good deal of dis- 
cussion has arisen over the question whether 
circumcision was first made known and com- 
manded to Abraham, having been nowhere 
practised before ; or was already in use, and 
now sanctified by God to a higher end and 
purport. The latter is doubtless the correct 
view. Evidence preponderates in favor of the 
contention that circumcision did exist among 
the Egyptians ; certainly among some of the 
Egyptians — perhaps among some other nations, 
though not among the Canaanites — before the 
time of Abraham. There is no good reason 
to doubt that its observance by the patriarch 
and his household was due to a divine command 
as here stated. It also had a religious meaning 
which could not attach to it as practised by the 
Egyptians and others. As the rainbow existed 
before the flood, and was then made the token 
of the Noachian covenant, so circumcision, 
which already prevailed among some nations, 
was now divinely authorized and made sacred 
as the sign of the covenant with Abraham. In 
like manner baptism, at the opening of the 
Christian dispensation, was the " adaptation of 
natural or legal washings, to a Christian pur- 
pose and a most spiritual significance." 

Circumcision was intended to admonish Abra- 
ham and his descendants respecting the duties 
of the covenant which they had assumed. It 
constituted both the medium and the title by 
which an interest in the covenant was secured. 
Its significance lay, not in any essential quality 
of its own, but rather in its symbolical and typ- 
ical character. It was an emblem of purity— 
of moral purity : hence the many exhortations 



Ch. XVII. ] GENESIS 

11 And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your fore- 
skin ; and it shall be a token of the covenant be- 
twixt me and you. ■ . 

12 And he that is eight days old shall be circum- 

among vou, every man* child in your genera- 
tions, he that is born in the house, or bought with 
money of any stranger, which is not of thy seed. 

13 He that is born in thy house, and he that is 
bought with thy money, must needs be circum- 
cised : and my covenant shall be in your flesh for 
an everlasting covenant. 

14 And the uncircumcised man child whose flesh 
of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall 
he cut off from his people; he hath broken my 
covenant. . , 

15 And God said unto Abraham, As for Sarai thy 
wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah 
shall her name be. 

16 And I will bless her, and give thee a son also 
of her: yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a 
mother of nations ; kings of people shall be of her. 

17 Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, 
and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto 
him that is an hundred years old ? and shall Sarah, 
that is ninety years old, bear? 

18 And Abraham said unto God, that Ishmael 
might live before thee ! 

19 And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee 
a son indeed ; and thou shalt call his name Isaac : 
and I will establish my covenant with him for an 
everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him. 

20 And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee : Be- 
hold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruit- 
ful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve 
princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great 
nation. 

21 But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, 
which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time 
in the next vear. 

22 And he left off talking with him, and God 
went up from Abraham. 

23 And Abraham took Ishmael his son, and all 
that were born in his house, and all that were 
bought with his money, every male among the 
men of Abraham's house ; and circumcised the 
flesh of their foreskin in the selfsame day, as God 
had said unto him. 



141 



11 shall be circumcised. And ye shall he circum- 
cised in the flesh of your foreskin ; and it shall 
be a token of a covenant betwixt me and you. 

12 And he that is eight days old shall be circum- 
cised among you, every male throughout your 
generations, he that is born in the house, or 
bought with money of any stranger, which is 

13 not of thy seed. He that is born in thy house, 
and he that is bought with thy money, must 
needs be circumcised : and my covenant shall 
be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. 

14 And the uncircumcised male who is not circum- 
cised in the flesh of his foreskin, that soul shall 
be cut off from his people; he hath broken my 
covenant. 

15 And God said unto Abraham, As for Sarai thy 
wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but 

16 Sarah shall her name be. And I will bless her, 
and moreover I will give thee a son of her : yea, 
I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of 

17 nations ; kings of peoples shall be of her. Then 
Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and 
said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him 
that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, 

18 that is ninety years old, bear? And Abraham 
said unto God, Oh that Ishmael might live be- 

19 fore thee ! And God said, Nay, but Sarah thy 
wife shall bear thee a son ; and thou shalt call 
his name Isaac : and I will establish my cove- 
nant with him for an everlasting covenant for 

20 his seed after him. And as for Ishmael, I have 
heard thee: behold, I have blessed him, and 
will make him fruitful, and will multiply him 
exceedingly : twelve princes shall he beget, and 

21 I will make him a great nation. But my cove- 
nant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah 
shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next 

22 year. And he left off talking with him, and 

23 God went up from Abraham. And Abraham 
took Ishmael his son, and all that were born in 
his house, and all that were bought with his 
money, every male among the men of Abraham's 
house, and circumcised the flesh of their fore- 
skin in the selfsame day, as God had said unto 



to Circumcision of the heart (Dent. 10 : 16 ; 30 : 6 ; Jer. 
4:4; Acts 7 : 51 ; comp. Rom. 4 : 9-13 ; Col. 2 : 11). It 

served, moreover, to keep Abraham and his de- 
scendants separate from the people round about 
them. 

14. That soul shall be cut off from his 

people ; that is, excluded from the congrega- 
tion of Israel, and treated as an alien (Exod. 12 : 

15, 19 ; Num. 9 : 13 ; 15 : 30 ; 19 : 13) ; though Sometimes 

excommunication was accompanied with the 
sentence of death (Exod. 31 : 14). 

15. Sarah shall her name be. As on 
entering within the covenant the name of Abram 
was changed to Abraham, significant of his be- 
coming " the father of a great multitude," so, on 
Sarai's entering, her name is changed to Sarah, 
significant of her becoming " the mother of na- 
tions and of kings of peoples." 

17. Abraham fell upon his face and 
laughed. His laughter was the laughter not 
of unbelief, but of wonder and joy (ps. 126 : 1, 2). 
To perpetuate the remembrance of the joyous 
emotion, the promised seed was to bear the name 
of Isaac, or laughter (ver. 19). 



18. O that Ishmael might live before 
thee ! Some commentators take these words as 
simply an expression of concern for Ishmael, 
lest, another heir having now been promised to 
Abraham, he should be excluded from all future 
inheritance; others as implying that "Abra- 
ham had at length resigned himself to the belief 
that Ishmael was the only child that he could 
ever have ; that Sarah's age and his own made 
any further hope impossible, and all that he 
could reasonably anticipate was that his race 
should be perpetuated in Ishmael." The latter 
view is favored by the emphatic declaration of 
the following verse, that not Ishmael, but Sarah's 
son Isaac, to be born a year from that time, was 
the child contemplated in the promise. 

20. Twelve princes shall he beget, 
and I will make him a great nation. 
Abraham's prayer for Ishmael was heard, 
though not precisely as he wished. Large 
common blessings were promised to Ishmael, 
but the blessings of the covenant were reserved 
for Isaac. For remarkable fulfilment of this 
prediction consult the history, 25 : 12-16. 



142 



GENESIS 



[Ch. XVIII. 



24 And Abraham was ninety years old and nine, 
when he was circumcised in the flesh of his fore- 
skin. 

25 And Ishmael his son was thirteen years old, 
when he was circumcised in the flesh of his fore- 
skin. 

26 In the selfsame day was Abraham circumcised, 
and Ishmael his son. 

27 And all the men of his house, born in the 
house, and bought with? money of the stranger, 
were circumcised with him. 



24 him. And Abraham was ninety years old and 
nine, when he was circumcised in the flesh of 

25 his foreskin. And Ishmael his son was thirteen 
years old, when he was circumcised in the flesh 

26 of his foreskin. In the selfsame day was Abra- 

27 ham circumcised, and Ishmael his son. And 
all the men of his house, those born in the house, 
and those bought with money of the stranger, 
were circumcised with him. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



1 AND the Lord appeared unto him in the plains 
of Mamre : and he sat in the tent door in the heat 
of the day ; 

! 2 And he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, lo, 
three men stood by him : and when he saw them, 
he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed 
himself toward the ground, 



1 AND the Lord appeared unto him by the oaks 
of Mamre, as he sat in the tent door in the heat 

2 of the day ; and he lift up his eyes and looked, 
and, lo, three men stood over against him : and 
when he saw them, he ran to meet them from 
the tent door, and bowed himself to the earth, 



25. And Ishmael his son was thirteen 
years old, when he was circumcised. 

Hence, among the Arabs the ceremony is 
usually deferred till the thirteenth year, when 
it is made an occasion of great rejoicing. 



Chap. 18. The Lokd's Appearance to 
Abraham in Mamre. The opening verses of 
this chapter present a beautiful picture of patri- 
archal hospitality. Such hospitality was the 
prevalent practice among other nations of re- 
mote antiquity. Thus Homer sings of the hos- 
pitable Axylus : 

" Fast by the road his ever open door 
Obliged the wealthy and relieved the poor " 
(Iliad, Book VI.). 

So Job, vindicating his conduct against the 
charges of his friends, says : 

' ' The stranger did not lodge in the street, 
But I opened my doors to the traveler " (Job 
31 : 32). 

Says Kenan: "When traveling in the East 
no one need ever scruple to go into the best 
house of any Arab village to which he comes, 
and he will always be received with profuse and 
gratuitous hospitality. From the moment we 
entered any house it was regarded as our own. 
There is not an Arab you meet who will not 
empty for you the last drop in the water-skin or 
share with you his last piece of black bread." 

In the present instance, however, the hospi- 
tality was rendered absolutely unique by the 
more than human character of the guests, and 
by the important event which their entertain- 
ment was intended to celebrate. That event 
was none other than " the final solemnization of 
the covenant transacted between God and Abra- 
ham as the father of the chosen race, and which 
had now been separately ratified by each of the 
parties." 

It was customary for those who had cove- 



nanted to eat together in recognition of their 
oneness and their amicable relations (3i : u, «). 
" So here Jehovah, in human form, came to the 
tent of Abraham and ate of his food in token of 
the friendly intimacy which had been estab- 
lished between them. The nearest Scripture 
parallel is that in which Jehovah, who here 
covenanted with Abraham, renewed his cove- 
nant with his descendants increased to a nation, 
at Mount Sinai (Exod. 24 : 7, 8), which was fol- 
lowed by a sacred meal, in which the repre- 
sentatives of the people ate and drank in the 
immediate presence of the God of Israel visibly 
manifested before them" (ver. 9-11). 

1. And the Lord appeared unto him ; 
that is, unto Abraham, who is distinctly named 
in 17 : 26, and is the prominent subject through- 
out the whole of that chapter. 

The object of this renewed manifestation of 
the divine presence to Abraham was twofold: 
first, to repeat — for Sarah's benefit especially— 
the promise of a son (ver. 9-15) ; and second, to 
inform Abraham of the Lord's purpose con- 
cerning Sodom (ver. 16-33). 

In the plains (by the oaks) of Mamre. 
These oaks have continued to be the abode of 
Abraham since 13 : 18, on which passage see 
note and comp. 14 : 13 and ver. 4 of this chapter. 

2. Three men. In the progress of the nar- 
rative (see ver. 13, 17, 22) it becomes apparent that 
they were Jehovah and two angels. They had, 
however, the outward appearance of men, and 
as such they were received and entertained by 
Abraham. The apostle (Heb. is : 1) calls them 
"angels," whom Abraham entertained "una- 
wares," that is, not knowing them to be such. 
Stood by (over against) him. "It is the 
manner of Eastern travelers, when soliciting 
hospitality, to remain standing at a respectful 
distance till invited to approach." He ran to 
meet them. When the visitor is an ordinary 



Ch. xviii. 3 



GENESIS 



143 



3 And said, My Lord, if now I have found favour 
in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy 
servant : 

4 Let a little water, I pray you, be fetched, and 
wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree : 

5 And I will fetch a morsel of bread, and com- 
fort ye your hearts ; after that ye shall pass on : for 
therefore are ye come to your servant. And they 
said, So do, as thou hast said. 

6 And Abraham hastened into the tent unto 
Sarah, and said, Make ready quickly three meas- 
ures of hue meal, knead it, and make cakes upon 
the hearth. 

7 And Abraham ran unto the herd, and fetched 
a calf tender and good, and gave it unto a young 
man ; and he hasted to dress it. 

8 And he took butter, and milk, and the calf 
which he had dressed, and set it before them ; and 
he stood by them under the tree, and they did eat. 



3 and said, My lord, if now I have found favour 
in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from 

4 thy servant : let now a little water be fetched, 
and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under 

5 the tree: and I will fetch a morsel of bread, 
and comfort ye your heart; after that ye shall 
pass on: forasmuch as ye are come to your 
servant. And they said, So do, as thou hast 

6 said. And Abraham hastened into the tent 
unto Sarah, and said, Make ready quickly three 
measures of fine meal, knead it, and make 

7 cakes. And Abraham ran unto the herd, and 
fetched a calf tender and good, and gave it 

8 unto the servant ; and he hasted to dress it. And 
he took butter, and milk, and the calf which 
he had dressed, and set it before them ; and he 
stood by them under the tree, and they did eat. 



person the master of the tent merely rises, but 
if of superior rank he advances a little toward 
the stranger, and after a very low bow turns 
and leads him to the tent. And bowed him- 
self toward the ground, to the earth. The 
word here rendered, "bowed himself," means 
primarily to do homage, or pay obeisance to one, 
bufe whether this homage is civil or religious 
must be learned from the context — it cannot be 
determined from the word itself. The former 
meaning is preferable here, since Abraham was 
not at first aware of the true character of his 
guests, particularly the principal of them. 
There is force in Dillmann's remark, that if 
Abraham had at once perceived the divine char- 
acter of his guests, the honor he paid them 
would really have been no honor, and the offer- 
ing of food and drink without meaning ; further, 
it would have been no trial of Abraham's faith 
had he known that it was Jehovah who con- 
versed with him. 

3. My lord. Abraham recognizes the chief 
personage, and addresses him with the ordinary 
title of civility and respect, as Lot did the 
two angels (19 : 2, is), and as the woman of Sa- 
maria did our Lord, respecting whom she knew 
nothing, except that he was a Jew fatigued by 
traveling (John 4 : 11). 

4. Let {now) a little water be fetched, 
and wash your feet. As only sandals were 
worn on the feet, which permitted the feet to 
become soiled and parched, feet-washing was a 
necessary and most grateful part of Oriental 

hospitality (oomp. 19 : 2 ; 24 : 32 ; 43 : 24 ; Judg. 19 : 21 ; 
Luke 7 : 38). 

And rest yourselves (lit., recline, by rest- 
ing on the elbow) under the tree, or, trees, as 
his tent stood in a grove— the word for tree be- 
ing used in a collective sense. 

5. And I will fetch a morsel of bread. 
"A modest description of what proved to be a 

SUmptUOUS feast " (see ver. 6-8). 



For therefore (or, for as much as) are ye 
come to your servant ; the meaning being, 
not that they had purposely come to avail them- 
selves of his hospitality, but that God had so 
ordered things as to give him the opportunity and 
privilege of showing them kindness in this way. 

6. Make ready quickly three measures 
of fine meal ; lit., meal, fine meal; that is, 
the best we have. Three measures appear to 
have made a batch (Matt. 13 : 33). The Hebrew is 
HKp, seah, a dry measure, supposed to be one- 
third of the ephah (Ruth 2 : 17, i8) } or about one 
peck and a half. It seems quite out of keeping 
with modern Occidental notions for a woman of 
Sarah's high distinction, the wife of a powerful 
chief, to engage in this menial service. But 
' ' among those who dwell in tents, the wife of 
the proudest chief is not above superintending 
the preparation of the bread, or even kneading 
and baking it with her own hands" (see2Sam. 
13 : 5-10). And make cakes. These were 
baked on the hearth (not in an oven), either 
under hot embers or on heated stones. 

7. Abraham ran unto the herd, and 
fetched a calf tender and good. Ani- 
mal food is not a common article of consump- 
tion among Orientals. "It is never provided, 
except for visitors of a superior rank, when a 
kid or lamb is killed. A calf is still a higher 
stretch of hospitality, and it would probably be 
cooked, as is usually done when haste is re- 
quired, either by roasting it whole or by cutting 
it up into small pieces and broiling them on 
skewers over the fire." 

The word HXpn, chemah, here rendered 
"butter," primarily denotes thick or curdled 
milk ; hence it is used in Scripture not only for 
this article, but for cream, butter, or cheese as 
well. It appears to have the meaning of cream 
in Ps. 55 : 21, and of cheese in Prov. 30 : 33. 

8. And he stood by them under the 
tree ; as do the sheiks at the present day, 



144 



GENESIS 



[Ch. XVIII. 



9 And they said unto him, Where is Sarah thy 
wife? And he said, Behold, in the tent. 

10 And he said, I will certainly return unto thee 
according to the time of life ; and, lo, Sarah thy 
wife shall have a son. And Sarah heard it in the 
tent door, which was behind him. 

11 Now Abraham and Sarah were old and well 
stricken in age; and it ceased to be with Sarah 
after the manner of women. 

12 Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, say- 
ing, After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, 
my lord being old also ? 

13 And the Lord said unto Abraham, Wherefore 
did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I of a surety bear a 
child, which am old? 

14 Is any thing too hard for the Lord? At the 
time appointed I will return unto thee, according 
to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son. 

15 Then Sarah denied, saying, I laughed not ; for 
she was afraid. And he said, Nay ; but thou didst 
laugh. 

16 and the men rose up from thence, and looked 
toward Sodom : and Abraham went with them to 
bring them on the way. 



9 And they said unto him, Where is Sarah thy 

10 wife ? And he said. Behold, in the tent. And 
he said, I will certainly return unto thee when 
the season cometh round ; and, lo, Sarah thy 
wife shall have a son. And Sarah heard in the 

11 tent door, which was behind him. Now Abra- 
ham and Sarah were old, and well stricken in 
age ; it had ceased to be with Sarah after the 

12 manner of women. And Sarah laughed within 
herself, saying, After I am waxed old shall I 

13 have pleasure, my lord being old also? And the 
Lord said unto Abraham, Wherefore did Sarah 
laugh, saying, Shall I of a surety bear a child, 

14 which am old? Is anything too hard for the 
Lord ? At the set time I will return unto thee, 
when the season cometh round, and Sarah shall 

15 have a son. Then Sarah denied, saying, I 
laughed not; for she was afraid. And he said, 
Nay ; but thou didst laugh. 

16 And the men rose up from thence, and looked 
toward Sodom : and Abraham went with them 



when they entertain distinguished guests, not 
sitting to eat with, but standing, to wait upon 
them. 

And they did eat. As two of these celes- 
tial visitants were afterward entertained by Lot 
(19 = 3) the eating should possibly be ascribed 
in a special sense to them. This, however, does 
not relieve the difficulty of understanding how 
heavenly beings could eat at all. The supposi- 
tion of Neumann that it is all a dream up to ver. 
16 is refuted by the whole tenor of the narra- 
tion. Some commentators suggest a temporary 
incarnation ; others that the spiritual world 
being mightier than the material here overcame 
the latter. It is vain, however, and unprofit- 
able to speculate on what must remain inex- 
plicable on physiological or any other principles 
within our present ken. Confining our atten- 
tion not to the process, but to the purpose of the 
eating, we may say that it was designed to 
prove that the visit to Abraham was not a 
dream or vision, but a genuine external mani- 
festation ; just as the veritable manducation of 
material food by the risen Christ (Luke u ■. 43) 
proved the reality of his resurrection. 

9. And they said unto him. The plural 
pronoun "they" stands here for the principal 
guest who spoke for the others, and is simply 
another designation of the " he " at the begin- 
ning of ver. 10. This alternation of numbers is 
not uncommon in familiar and unstudied narra- 
tive (comp. 19 : 17). 

Where is Sarah thy wife ? As the visit 
had special reference to Sarah, she is asked for. 
Before becoming the mother of the promised 
seed, she too must learn to exercise faith (Heb. 
11 : 11). 

10. And he said ; that is, he whom Abra- 
ham had addressed as "my lord" («*. 3) } but 



whom now, from the nature and terms of the 
announcement made, he must have taken for a 
more than ordinary traveler. 

According to the time of life, or, when 
the season cometh round. This phrase has been 
variously interpreted. A literal rendering of 
the Hebrew gives : about the time (when it is) 
reviving, or, when this time lives again ; that is, 
during the next year. (See Ges., in Thes., p. 470; 
and Gram., \ 154, 3 f.) The time is more clearly 
stated in 17 : 21. 

And Sarah heard in the tent door, 
which was behind him. In this position, 
which her natural curiosity may have prompted 
her to take, she could overhear the conversation 
without being seen. 

12. And Sarah laughed within herself. 
" A secret feeling of the incongruity of the prom- 
ise with the actual circumstances of the case." 
Abraham also had laughed at this promise ( " : 
17) ; but his laugh was altogether different from 
that of Sarah. His laugh proceeded from faith, 
hers from latent doubt and unbelief. 

15. And he said, Nay; but thou didst 
laugh. Sarah was now convinced that he who 
had proved his omniscience by reading her 
heart, and had asserted his omnipotence by ask- 
ing if "anything was too hard for Jehovah" 
(ver. 14) t was verily Jehovah himself. The result, 
which it was the special object of this manifes- 
tation to bring about, was now accomplished : 
Sarah's unbelief was transformed into faith. 

16. And Abraham went with them to 
bring them on the way. After the repast 
was finished, the three heavenly guests rose and 
turned their steps toward Sodom, and Abraham, 
as Eastern courtesy required, escorted them a 
short distance on their way (comp. 3 John 6 ; Acts 20 : 

38; Rom. 15: 24; 1 Cor. 16:11). HOW far he aCCOmpa- 



Ch. XYIII.] 



GENESIS 



145 



17 And the Lord said, Shall I hide from Abra- 
ham that thing which I do : 

18 Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a 
great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the 
earth shall be blessed in him? 

19 For I know him, that he will command his 
children and his household after him, and they 
shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and 
judgment; that the Lord may bring upon Abra- 
ham that which he hath spoken of him. 

20 And the Lord said, Because the cry of Sodom 
and Gomorrah is great, and because their siu is 
verv grievous, 

21 I will go down now, and see whether they 
have done altogether according to the cry of it, 
which is come unto me ; and if not, I will know. 

22 And the men turned their faces from thence, 
and went toward Sodom: but Abraham stood yet 
before the Lord. 

23 And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou 
also destroy the righteous with the wicked ? 

24 Perad venture there be fifty righteous within 
the city : wilt thou also destroy and not spare the 
place for the fifty righteous that are therein ? 



17 to bring them on the way. And the Lord said, 
Shall I hide from Abraham that which I do ; 

18 seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great 
and mighty nation, and all the nations of the 

19 earth shall be blessed in him? For I have 
known him, to the end that he may command 
his children and his household after him, that 
they may keep the way of the Lord, to do jus- 
tice and" judgment; to the end that the Lord 
may bring upon Abraham that which he hath 

20 spoken of him. And the Lord said, Because 
the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and 

21 because their sin is very grievous ; I will go 
down now, and see whether they have done 
altogether according to the cry of it, which is 

22 come unto me ; and if not, I will know. And 
the men turned from thence, and went toward 
Sodom : but Abraham stood yet before the Lord. 

23 And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou 

24 consume the righteous with the wicked ? Per- 
adventure there be fifty righteous within the 
city : wilt thou consume and not spare the place 



nied them is not stated. There is a tradition 
that he went as far as the site of the subsequent 
Carphar-Berucha, from which point the Dead 
Sea is visible, through a ravine. Arrived at this 
place, he who had already spoken as Jehovah 
announces to Abraham his purpose to inquire 
into the cry which had come up to him from 
Sodom (ver. 20, 2i). The two angels then turned 
toward Sodom (ver. 22), while the third, the 
Lord, remains and listens to Abraham's entreaty 
for the city (ver. 23-32). 

17. Shall I hide from Abraham that 
which I do? The Lord apparently spoke 
these words, not to Abraham, but to himself 
(comp. 8 : 21). This verse, accordingly, and the 
the two following, may be regarded as forming 
a divine soliloquy. The Lord virtually reasons 
thus : " Seeing that Abraham is now the ' friend 

Of God ' (2 Chron. 20 : 7 ; Isa. 41 : 8 ; Jas. 2 : 23) , I will 

not conceal from him my purpose respecting the 
cities in the vale of Siddim, the measure of 
whose sins is now full." 

19. For 1 know (or, I have known) him. 
This verse states the conditions on which the 
previous promise of enlargement and blessing 
(ver. is) should be fulfilled — conditions which 
the Lord foresaw would be fulfilled on Abra- 
ham's part. The word here rendered " known," 
J7T, yadaK, is sometimes used of the eternal fore- 
knowledge and election of God, as in Amos 
3:2: " You only have I known of all the fam- 
ilies of the earth" (comp. similar use in the 
Greek Testament, Rom. 8:29; 11 : 2). The 
meaning would then be "I have foreknown 
and chosen Abraham, that he should be the 
depositary of my truth, and should teach his 
children in the way of religion and godliness, 
that so the promises made to him should be ful- 
filled in his seed and lineage." 
K 



20. The cry of Sodom and Gomorrah 
is great. This "cry" is to be understood as 
the cry for vengeance, like that in 4 : 10. It is 
a moral demand for punishment. Although 
only Sodom and Gomorrah are mentioned, it is 
yet evident from Deut. 29 : 23 that two other 
neighboring cities were also destroyed. Possibly 
these only are named as the greater or as ex- 
ceeding the others in wickedness. 

21. I will go down now, and see (comp. 
n : 5, 7 ; Exod. 3 : 8) 5 an anthropomorphic represen- 
tation expressive of the care with which God 
investigates the conduct of men — duly weighing 
every aggravating or extenuating circumstance, 
and showing that his judgments are based upon 
the strictest justice. 

23-33. It has been well observed that " here 
begins the most remarkable instance of human 
intercession to be met with in the revealed word 
of God. With earnestness, but with unaffected 
humility, devout courtesy, and a reverent free- 
dom, the patriarch presses his suit on behalf of 
the few righteous men in Sodom. On the other 
hand, Jehovah receives the intercession of his 
servant graciously, and admits the reasonable- 
ness of his plea by granting all that he desires." 

Abraham begins his intercession with the re- 
quest that Sodom might be spared if fifty right- 
eous persons should be found therein, starting 
with this (for Sodom) hypothetically large num- 
ber, so as to insure a favorable response. It 
will be observed that his heart enlarges as his 
pleading proceeds. At first he thinks only of 
the preservation of the righteous (ver. 23) ; but 
as he further ponders the subject, his convic- 
tion of the divine clemency deepens, and he is 
prompted to widen the scope of his intercession, 
and sue for the sparing of the guilty for the sake 
of the innocent (ver. 24). Emboldened by the 



146 



GENESIS 



[Ch. XIX. 



25 That be far from thee to do after this manner, 
to slay the righteous with the wicked ; and that the 
righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from 
thee : Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right ? 

26 And the Lord said, if I find in Sodom fifty 
righteous within the city, then I will spare all the 
place for their sakes. 

27 And Abraham answered and said, Behold 
now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the 
Lord, which am but dust and ashes : 

28 Peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty 
righteous : wilt thou destroy all the city for lack of 
five ? And he said, If I find there forty and five, I 
will not destroy it. 

29 And he spake unto him yet again, and said, 
Peradventure there shall be forty found there. 
And he said, I will not do it for forty's sake. 

30 And he said unto him, Oh let not the Lord be 
angrv, and I will speak: Peradventure there shall 
thirty be found there. And he said, I will not do 
it, if I find thirty there. 

31 And he said, Behold now, I have taken upon 
me to speak unto the Lord : Peradventure there 
shall be twenty found there. And he said, I will 
not destroy it for twenty's sake. 

32 And he said, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and 
I will speak yet but this once: Peradventure ten 
shall be found there. And he said, I will not de- 
stroy it for ten's sake. 

33 And the Lord went his way, as soon as he had 
left communing with Abraham : and Abraham re- 
turned unto his place. 



25 for the fifty righteous that are therein? That 
be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay 
the righteous with the wicked, that so the right- 
eous should be as the wicked ; that be far from 
thee: shall not the Judge of all the earth do 

26 right? And the Lord said, If I find in Sodom 
fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare 

27 all the place for their sake. And Abraham an- 
swered and said, Behold now, I have taken 
upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but 

28 dust and ashes: peradventure there shall lack 
five of the fifty righteous : wilt thou destroy all 
the city for lack of five ? And he said, I Avill not 

29 destroy it, if I find there forty and five. And 
he spake unto him yet again, and said, Perad- 
venture there shall be forty found there. And 
he said, I will not do it for the fortv's sake. 

30 And he said, Oh let not the Lord be angry, aud 
1 will speak : peradventure there shall thirty be 
found there. And he said, I will not do it, if I 

31 find thirty there. And he said, Behold now, I 
have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord: 
peradventure there shall be twenty found there. 
And he said, I will not destroy it for the twenty's 

32 sake. And he said, Oh let not the Lord be 
angry, and I will speak yet but this once : per- 
adventure ten shall be found there. And he 
said, I will not destroy it for the ten's sake. 

33 And the Lord went his way. as soon as he had 
left communing with Abraham : and Abraham 
returned unto his place. 



CHAPTER XIX. 



1 AND there came two angels to Sodom at even ; 
and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom : and Lot seeing 
them rose up to meet them ; and he bowed himself 
with his face toward the ground ; 

2 And he said, Behold now, my lords, turn in, I 
pray you, into your servant's house, and tarry all 
night, and wash your feet, and ye shall rise up 



1 AND the two angels came to Sodom at even ; 
and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom : and Lot saw 
them, and rose up to meet them ; and he bowed 

2 himself with his face to the earth ; and he said, 
Behold now, my lords, turn aside, I pray you, 
into your servant's house, and tarry all night, 
and wash your feet, and ye shall rise up early, 



success of his first petition, lie ventures to reduce 
the number to forty-five (ver. 28) f and by the ex- 
ercise of what has been termed a "holy inge- 
nuity," instead of pleading for the city's safety 
on account of forty-five, he deprecates its de- 
struction on account of five. " Increasing in his 
boldness as God abounded in his grace," he now 
prays that the city might be spared if only forty 
righteous were found in it; and this request 
being also graciously granted, he continues his 
intercession until the number is reduced to ten 
(ver. 32). But why did he stop at this number? 
Probably because he believed that the city con- 
tained at least ten righteous persons, or he may 
have felt that he had reached the limit of that 
liberty which God accords to believing sup- 
pliants at his throne. It is however worthy of 
notice, that he ceased asking before God ceased 
giving. The perseverance of Abraham was re- 
markable, but it was exceeded by the Lord's 
patience. "The Lord went his way," not to 
avoid further intercession on the part of Abra- 
ham, but because Abraham had no further sup- 
plications to present. Abraham got all he asked 
for, and would doubtless have gotten more, had 
he asked for more. The sequel showed that 
Sodom contained only one righteous person ; 



yet on his behalf the Lord interposed in a sig- 
nal manner for the sake of Abraham. 

The narrative of Abraham's intercession for 
Sodom teaches the long-suffering mercy of God, 
the efficacy of prayer, and the value in a city or 
nation of the leaven of righteous persons. The 
removal of Lot from Sodom was followed by the 
removal of Sodom from the world. 



Chap. 19. The Destruction of Sodom. 
1. There came two angels to Sodom. 

The definite article, as in R. V., shows these to 
have been the two personages spoken of in 18 : 
22, who were then on their way to Sodom. They 
are here for the first time called angels, though 
in ver. 10, 11 they still appear as men. 

And Lot sat in the gate of Sodom. In 
the ancient towns of the East, the city gate was 
the common place of resort both for social 
intercourse and the transaction of business, 
especially the administration of justice (3* = 2 <>.' 

Deut. 21 : 19 ; Ruth 4:1; 1 Sam. 4 : 18 ; Job 29 : 7 ; Pror. 
31 : 23). 

2. Behold now, my lords. Heb. '^TR, 
'adhonai, a word often applied, but with a differ- 
ent vowel pointing, as a title of the Most High. 
Its application by Lot to these strangers is in- 



Ch. XIX.] 



GENESIS 



147 



early, and go on your ways. And they said, Nay ; 
but we will abide in the street all night. 

3 And he pressed upon them greatly ; and they 
turned in unto him, and entered into his house; 
and he made them a feast, and did bake unleavened 
bread, and they did eat. 

•1 But before they lay down, the men of the city, 
even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, 
both old and young, all the people from every 
quarter : 

5 And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, 
Where are the men which came in to thee this 
nisht ? bring them out unto us, that we may know 
them. 

6 And Lot went out at the door unto them, and 
shut the door after him, 

7 And said, I pray you, brethren, do not so 
wickedly. 

8 Behold now, I have two daughters which have 
not known man ; let me, I pray you, bring them 
out unto you, and do ye to them as ?'s good in your 
eyes : only unto these men do nothing ; for there- 
fore came they under the shadow of my roof. 

9 And they said, Stand back. And they said 
again, This one fellow came in to sojourn, and he 
will needs be a judge: now will we deal worse 
with thee than with them. And they pressed sore 
upon the man, even Lot, and came near to break 
the door. 

10 But the men put forth their hand, and pulled 
Lot into the house to them, and shut to the door. 

11 And they smote the men that were at the door 
of the house with blindness, both small and great : 
so that they wearied themselves to find the door. 



and go on your way. And they said, Nay ; but 

3 we will abide in the street all night. And 
he urged them greatly ; and they turned in 
unto him, and entered into his house; and he 
made them a feast, and did bake unleavened 

4 bread, and they did eat. But before they lay 
down, the men of the city, even the men of 
Sodom, compassed the house round, both young 

5 and old, all the people from every quarter ; and 
they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where 
are the men which came in to thee this night? 
bring them out unto us, that we may know 

6 them. And Lot went out unto them to the door, 

7 and shut the door after him. And he said, I 
pray you, my brethren, do not so wickedly. 

8 Behold now, 1 have two daughters which have 
not known man ; let me, I pray you, bring them 
out unto you, and do ye to them as is good in 
your eyes: only unto "these men do nothing; 
forasmuch as they are come under the shadow 

9 of my roof. And they said, Stand back. And 
they said, This one fellow came in to sojourn, 
and he will needs be a judge : now will we deal 
worse with thee, than with them. And they 
pressed sore upon the man, even Lot, and drew 

10 near to break the door. But the men put forth 
their hand, and brought Lot into the house to 

11 them, and shut to the door. And they smote 
the men that were at the door of the house with 
blindness, both small and great: so that they 



dicative of the strong impression their appear- 
ance made on him. The Massoretes mark it as 
"profane," that is, as not employed in the 
divine, but in the human, sense. 

We will abide in the street all night. 
These words are to be construed more as the 
language of common etiquette on such occa- 
sions (oomp. Luke 24 : 28, 29) than as an absolute 
refusal to share Lot's hospitality. They would 
test the sincerity of his invitation, since it was 
regarded as a mark of the corruption of morals 
in a place to allow a stranger to remain in the 

Streets (Judg. 19 : 15 ; Job 31 : 32). 

3. And he pressed upon (urged) them 
greatly. The original is expressive of an im- 
portunity amounting almost to violence. The 
same words are rendered " pressed sore " in ver. 
9 ; and their Greek equivalent is employed in a 
similar connection in Luke 24 : 29 : "And they 
constrained him, saying, Abide with us." Lot's 
urgent request sprang from a sincere desire to 
show them hospitality; moreover, he would 
thus rescue them in advance from the danger 
to which he knew their remaining in the street 
would expose them. 

5. That we may know them. A euphem- 
ism for a species of crime for which the Scrip- 
tures has no name except what is borrowed from 
this infamous place — Sodom (isa. 3:9; Lam. 4:6; 
comp. judg. 19 : 22). This sin was exceedingly 
prevalent among the Canaanites (Lev. is : 24, 25) 
and other heathen nations (Rom. 1 : 27), and under 



the law of Moses it was punishable with death 

(Lev. 20 : 13). 

8. I have two daughters. It is not easy 
to reconcile this shocking proposal of Lot with 
Peter's estimate of him as a "righteous" man 
(2 Peter 2:8). The true explanation appears to 
be that he thought it would be less criminal not 
to spare his daughters than to sacrifice the 
duties of hospitality, and expose his guests to 
the wickedness of the men of Sodom. Accord- 
ing to the code of his time, the duties of hos- 
pitality were sacred above everything else — 
more sacred even than a father's duties to his 
children. It was plainly Lot's duty, after all 
justifiable means had proved unsuccessful, to 
put himself under God's protection, and leave 
the issue with him. 

9. He will needs be a judge. The He- 
brew construction here is that employed to de- 
note repeated or continued action (see Nord., 
£ 1020, 1, a). Accordingly, the words might be 
rendered : Re judges continually, or, he goes on 
to act the judge; implying that he had been in 
the habit of remonstrating with them (2 Peter 

2 : 7, 8). 

11. And they (the angels) smote the men 
that were at the door of the house with 
blindness ; or rather, with confused vision. 
The word occurs only once again, in 2 Kings 
6 : 18, where, apparently (see ver. 19, 20) ; not real 
blindness, but indistinctness of vision and 
mental aberration are described. 



148 



GENESIS 



[Ch. XIX. 



12 And the men said unto Lot, Hast thou here 
any besides? son in law, and thy sons, and thy 
daughters, and whatsoever thou hast in the city, 
bring them out of this place : 

13 B^or we will destroy this place, because the cry 
of them is waxen great before the face of the 
Lord ; and the Lord hath sent us to destroy it. 

14 And. Lot went out, and spake unto his sons in 
law, which married his daughters, and said, Up, 
get you out of this place ; for the Lord will destroy 
this city. But he seemed as one that mocked unto 
his sons in law. 

15 And when the morning arose, then the angels 
hastened Lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife, and thy 
two daughters, which are here ; lest thou be con- 
sumed in the iniquity of the city. 

16 And while he lingered, the men laid hold 
upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and 
upon the hand of his two daughters ; the Lord 
being merciful unto him: and they brought him 
forth, and set him without the city. 

17 And it came to pass, when they had brought 
them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy life ; 
look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the 
plain ; escape to the mountain, lest thou be con- 
sumed. 

18 And Lot said unto them, Oh, not so, my 
Lord: 

19 Behold now, thy servant hath found grace in 
thy sight, and thou hast magnified thy mercy, 
which thou hast shewed unto me in saving my 
life ; and I cannot escape to the mountain, lest 
some evil take me, and I die : 

20 Behold now, this city is near to flee unto, and 
it is a little one: Oh, let me escape thither, (is it 
not a little one?) and my soul shall live. 

21 And he said unto him, See, I have accepted 
thee concerning this thing also, that I will not 
overthrow this city, for the which thou hast 
spoken. 

22 Haste thee, escape thither ; for I cannot do 
anything till thou be come thither. Therefore the 
name of the city was called Zoar. 

23 The sun was risen upon the earth when Lot 
entered into Zoar. 

24 Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon 
Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of 
heaven : 



12 wearied themselves to find the door. And the 
men said unto Lot, Hast thou here any besides? 
son in law, and thy sons, and thy daughters, 
and whomsoever thou hast in the city ; bring 

13 them out of the place : for we will destroy this 
place, because the cry of them is waxen great 
before the Lord ; and the Lord hath sent us to 

14 destroy it. And Lot went out, and spake unto his 
sons in law, which married his daughters, and 
said, Up, get you out of this place ; for the Lord 
will destroy the city. But he seemed unto his 

15 sons in law as one that mocked. And when the 
morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot, 
saying, Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daugh- 
ters which are here ; lest thou be consumed in 

16 the iniquity of the city. But he lingered ; and 
the men laid hold upon his hand, and upon the 
hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two 
daughters; the Lord being merciful unto him: 
and they brought him forth, and set him with- 

17 out the city. And it came to pass, when they 
had brought them forth abroad, that he said, 
Escape for thy life ; look not behind thee, neither 
stay thou in all the Plain ; escape to the moun- 

18 tain, lest thou be consumed. And Lot said unto 

19 them, Oh, not so, my lord: behold now, thy 
servant hath found grace in thy sight, and thou 
hast magnified thy mercy, which thou hast 
shewed unto me in saving my life ; and I can- 
not escape to the mountain, lest evil overtake 

20 me, and I die: behold now, this city is near to 
flee unto, and it is a little one : Oh, let me escape 
thither, (is it not a little one?) and my soul shall 

21 live. And he said unto him, See, I have ac- 
cepted thee concerning this thing also, that I 
will not overthrow the city of which thou hast 

22 spoken. Haste thee, escape thither ; for I can- 
not do anything till thou be come thither. 
Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar. 

23 The sun was risen upon the earth when Lot 

24 came unto Zoar. Then the Lord rained upon 
Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire 



12. Hast thou here amy besides? That 
is, any other relatives or friends in the city in 
addition to the two daughters then present in 
the house. For his sake even his bad relatives 
might have been saved ; but they ridiculed and 
spurned the offer of deliverance that was made 
them (rer. u). 

14. And Lot went out, and spake unto 
his sons in law, which married his 
daughters. The last clause (lit., the takers 
of his daughters) is rendered by the Septuagint : 
who had taken his daughters, and by the Vul- 
gate: who were about to marry his daughters. 
The latter rendering is to be preferred— is rather 
favored by the Hebrew. Betrothal would be 
sufficient to give the name "son-in-law" or 
" bridegroom " to their affianced husbands. 

17. Escape to the mountain; that is, 
the mountain range of Moab, a few miles east 
of the Dead Sea. 

19. I cannot escape to the mountain, 
lest some evil (more correctly, the evil; that 
is, the destruction threatened upon Sodom ) over- 



take me and I die. Lot's request shows that 
his faith was weak and wavering. 

20. Oh, let me escape thither, (is it 
not a little one ?). Lot's reasoning was that 
since Zoar was the smallest of the cities of the 
Pentapolis, it would not be a great demand on 
God's mercy to spare it, and it would relieve 
him from further exertions for his safety. From 
ver. 21 it appears that this town was originally 
doomed to destruction like the rest. 

22. Therefore the name of the city 
was called Zoar; that is, Little; doubtless 
from Lot's remark concerning it, Its former 
name was Bela (see u : 2). 

24. Then the Lord rained upon Sodom 
and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire 
from the Lord out of heaven. Although 
only Sodom and Gomorrah are named here, it 
is yet plain from Deut. 29 : 23 and Hosea 11 : 8 
that Admah and Zeboiim, which were contig- 
uous cities, were also destroyed. The phrase- 
ology: " the Lord rained . . . from the Lord out 
of heaven," has been taken by some commenta- 



Ch. XIX.] 



GENESIS 



149 



25 And he overthrew those cities, and all the 
plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and 
that which grew upon the ground. _ 

26 But his wife looked back from behind him, 
and she became a pillar of salt. 

27 And Abraham gat up early in the morning to 
the place where he stood before the Lord : 

28 And he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, 
and toward all tne land of the plain, and beheld, 
and, lo, the smoke of the country went up as the 
smoke of a furnace. 



tors to indicate a distinction of persons in the 
Godhead, as if the meaning were : Jehovah (the 
Son) rained down from Jehovah (the Father). 
It is better, however, to regard it as simply a 
Hebrew way of saying that Jehovah rained 
from himself (see parallel expressions in Exod. 
24 : 1 and 1 Kings 8 : 1). 

The narrative makes prominent the immediate 
agency of God in this destruction. "Whether 
this divinely sent rain was burning pitch, or 
lightning which ignited the bituminous soil, or 
a volcanic eruption which overwhelmed all the 
fegion, it was clearly miraculous in its nature, 
and designed as a solemn punitive infliction on 
the cities of the plain." In his most signal 
judgments God has often been pleased to use 
natural agencies, as when, for instance, he 
drowned the antediluvian world, and overthrew 
Pharaoh and his host in the Red Sea, and 
brought the locusts on Egypt with an east wind 
and drove them back with a west wind (Exod. 
10 : i3, 19). The supernatural character of the 
visitation seems implied in the statement of the 
preceding verse, that "the sun was risen upon 
the earth when Lot came unto Zoar." The day 
began with no premonitions of the awful 
catastrophe that was to occur before its close. 



25 from the Lord out of heaven ; and he overthrew 
those cities, and all the Plain, and all the in- 
habitants of the cities, and that which grew 

26 upon the ground. But his wife looked back 
from behind him, and she became a pillar of 

27 salt. And Abraham gat up early in the morn- 
ing to the place where he had stood before the 

28 Lord : and he looked toward Sodom and Go- 
morrah, and toward all the land of the Plain, 
and beheld, and, lo, the smoke of the land went 
up as the smoke of a furnace. 



The cities of the plain are commonly believed 
to have been situated at the southern extremity 
of the Dead Sea. 1 The northern and deeper 
portion of the sea probably existed before the 
destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, the south- 
ern and very shallow portion was, in all prob- 
ability, not formed till that occurrence took 
place. It has been conjectured that the muddy 
and slimy bottom on the southwest shore covers 
the ruins of Sodom, a view supported by ancient 
traditions. 

26. She became a pillar of salt. "The 
sulphur blast overtook her, and, like all the 
country round, she was enveloped in an incrus- 
tation of salt." There was a pillar of salt near 
the Dead Sea, which later tradition identified 
with Lot's wife (Jos., Ant., I., 11). This pillar, 
which Josephus professes to have seen, was 
probably one of those pillar-like lumps of salt, 
which are still to be seen at Mount Usdum 
(Sodom), on the southwestern side of the Dead 
Sea. 

27. And Abraham gat up early in the 
morning (the morning of the day on which the 
judgment occurred) to the place where he 
stood before the Lord. And what a scene 
of woe burst upon his sight! "Sulphurous 



1 The Dead Sea, called in Scripture the Salt Sea (Gen. 14 : 3 ; Num. 34 : 3, 12), the sea of the Plain, or 
the Arabah (Deut. 3 : 17 ; 4 : 49 ; Josh. 3 : 16), and in the later books, the East Sea (Ezek. 47 : 18 ; Joel 2 : 20 ; 
Zech. 14 : 8), is probably the most remarkable body of water in the known world. It lies in the lowest 
part of the enormous longitudinal chasm or valley that extends from the Red Sea on the south to Antioch 
on the north. [The surface of the sea of Galilee is six hundred, and that of the Dead Sea one thousand 
three hundred feet below the level of the Mediterranean. The greatest depth of the Dead Sea is one 
thousand three hundred and eight feet, or two thousand six hundred and eight feet below the ocean 
level. 

This vast chasm was formed in the remote geological ages. But there are evidences that the sea 
aud the surrounding country were greatly changed by some volcanic convulsion of nature about the 
period spoken of in this chapter. For about one quarter of its length on the south it is only about 
thirteen feet deep. Says Dr. Driver, Genesis, p. 202, " It has been plausibly suggested (by Tristram, Dawson, 
Blanckenhorn) that the physical cause of their destruction (Sodom and Gomorrah) was an eruption of 
petroleum occasioned by an earthquake. . . All the conditions for such an eruption are present in the 
region of the Dead Sea. The strata about it, especially at the southwest end, abound in bituminous 
matter ;. after earthquakes bitumen is often found floating in the water; sulphur springs and sulphur 
deposits are also frequent around the Dead Sea, so that the mention of brimstone in ver. 24 (cf. Deut. 
24 : 23) is quite intelligible. To the same earthquake might also be due the subsidence of the 'vale of 
Siddim.' "] 

From the earliest times to which the tradition can be traced, the region south of the Dead Sea has 
been spoken of as the site of the doomed cities (Conant's Genesis, foot-note, pp. 79, 80). 

Mr. Grove's arguments (in Smith's Diet, of the Bible) in favor of a northern site for these cities, are 
outweighed by those which go to substantiate the view as given in the preceding. 



150 



GENESIS 



[Ch. XX. 



29 And it came to pass, when God destined the 
cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, 
and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, 
when he overthrew the cities in the which Lot 
dwelt. 

30 And Lot went up out of Zoar, and dwelt in 
the mountain, and his two daughters with him; 
for he feared to dwell in Zoar : and he dwelt in a 
cave, he and his two daughters. 

31 And the firstborn said unto the younger, Our 
father is old, and there is not a man in the earth to 
come in unto us after the manner of all the earth : 

32 Come, let us make our father drink wine, and 
we will lie with him, that we may preserve seed of 
our father. 

33 And they made their father drink wine that 
night : and the firstborn went in, and lay with her 
father ; and he perceived not when she lay down, 
nor when she arose. 

34 And it came to pass on the morrow, that the 
firstborn said unto the younger, Behold, I lay 
yesternight with my father: let us make him drink 
wine this night also ; and go thou in, and lie with 
him, that we may preserve seed of our father. 

35 And they made their father drink wine that 
night also: and the younger arose, and lay with 
him ; and he perceived not when she lay down, nor 
when she arose. 

36 Thus were both the daughters of Lot with 
child by their father. 

37 And the firstborn bare a son, and called his 
name Moab : the same is the father of the Moabites 
unto this day. 

38 And the younger, she also bare a son, and 
called his name Ben-ammi : the same is the father 
of the children of Ammon unto this day. 



29 And it came to pass, when God destroyed the 
cities of the Plain, that God remembered Abra- 
ham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the over- 
throw, when he overthrew the cities in which 
Lot dwelt. 

30 And Lot went up out of Zoar, and dwelt in the 
mountain, and his two daughters with him ; for 
he feared to dwell in Zoar : and he dwelt in a 

31 cave, he and his two daughters. And the first- 
born said unto the younger, Our father is old, 
and there is not a man in the earth to come in 

33 unto us after the manner of all the earth : come, 
let us make our father drink wine, and we will 
lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our 

33 father. And they made their father drink wine 
that night: and the firstborn went in, and lay 
with her father ; and he knew not when she lay 

34 down, nor when she arose. And it came to pass 
on the morrow, that the firstborn said unto the 
younger, Behold, I lay yesternight with my 
father: let us make him drink wine this night 
also ; and go thou in, and lie with him, that we 

35 may preserve seed of our father. And they 
made their father drink wine that night also: 
and the younger arose, and lay with him ; and 
he knew not when she lay down, nor when she 

36 arose. Thus were both the daughters of Lot 

37 with child by their father. And the firstborn 
bare a son, and called his name Moab : the same 
is the father of the Moabites unto this day. 

38 And the younger, she also bare a son, and called 
his name Ben-ammi : the same is the father of 
the children of Ammon unto this day. 



CHAPTEE XX. 



1 AND Abraham journeyed from thence toward 
the south country, and dwelt between Kadesh and 
Shur, and sojourned in Gerar. 



1 AND Abraham journeyed from thence toward 
the land of the South, and dwelt between 
Kadesh and Shur ; and he sojourned in Gerar. 



smoke mingled with lurid gleams of fire rising 
up in dense pitchy masses ! " Still, the patri- 
arch's prayer was not in vain, for God remem- 
bered Abraham in sparing Lot. 

30. He feared to dwell in Zoar ; lest a 
doom similar to that of Sodom might overtake 
it on account of its wickedness. The Jews have 
a tradition that it was destroyed by an earth- 
quake after Lot left it. 

Me dwelt in a cave ; in one of those cav- 
ernous recesses with which the mountains of 
Moab abound, and which the primitive inhabit- 
ants of the region had already converted into 
dwelling-places. 

31- 3 Go These verses show that if the daugh- 
ters of Lot had escaped the destruction of Sodom, 
they had not escaped its pollution. Familiarity 
with vice had made them capable of the most 
revolting crime themselves. 

32. That we may preserve seed of our 
father. Not that they supposed the whole 
human race to have been destroyed excepting 
their father (they knew there were men still in 
Zoar), but they probably supposed that no man 
would care to link himself to them, the rem- 
nants of an accursed city. 

From this incestuous connection sprang the 



Moabites and Ammonites, who obtained a 
shameful notoriety among the nations for idola- 
try and cruelty. They were worshipers of 
Molech or Milcom, who is called "the abomina- 
tion of the Ammonites" (i Kings n : 5), and their 
religious rites were tinged with the blood of 

human Sacrifice (Lev. 20 : 2 ; 2 Kings 3 : 27 ; 23 : 10). 

Lot is not mentioned again, nor is his death 
recorded. As, however, his descendants fre- 
quently came into contact with the Israelites, 
the sacred writer deems it proper, at this early 
period, to give an account of their origin. 



Chap. 20. Abeaham in Geeae. 1. 
Abraham journeyed from thence ; that is, 
from Mamre, where he had resided over twenty 
years (comp. 13 : is to is : 1 ). His reason for leaving 
this place is not stated. It may have been pain- 
ful to him any longer to abide where he would 
be reminded of the terrible catastrophe which 
had overtaken his kinsman ; or, he may simply 
have traveled onward in search of fresh pastur- 
age. 

Toward the south country, the land of 
the South. See on 12 : 9. 

Kadesh. See on 14: 7. Shur. See on 16: 7, 
last paragraph. Gerar. See on 10 : 19. 



Ch. XX.] 



GENESIS 



151 



2 And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She is my 
sister : and Abimelech king of Gerar sent, and took 
Sarah. 

3 But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, 
and said to him. Behold, thou art but a dead man, for 
the woman which thou hast taken ; for she is a 
man's wife. 

4 But Abimelech had not come near her : and he 
said, Lord, wilt thou slay also a righteous nation ? 

5 Said he not unto me, She is my sister? and she, 
even she herself said, He is my brother: in the in- 
tegrity of my heart and innocency of my hands have 
I done this. 

6 And God said unto him in a dream, Yea, I know 
that thou didst this in the integrity of thy heart ; for 
I also withheld thee from sinning against me : there- 
fore suffered I thee not to touch her. 



2 And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She is my 
sister : and Abimelech king of Gerar sent, and 

3 took Sarah. But God came to Abimelech in a 
dream of the night, and said to him, Behold, 
thou art but a dead man, because of the woman 
which thou hast taken ; for she is a man's wife. 

4 Now Abimelech had not come near her : and he 
said, Lord, wilt thou slay even a righteous 

5 nation ? Said he not himself unto me, She is my 
sister? and she, even she herself said, He is my 
brother : in the integrity of my heart and the 

6 innocency of my hands have I done this. And 
God said unto him in the dream, Yea, I know 
that in the integrity of thy heart thou hast done 
this, and I also withheld thee from sinning 
against me : therefore suffered I thee not to touch 



2. She is my sister. See on 12 : 13 (comp. 
26 : 7). This is the second time that Abraham 
has recourse to prevarication touching his real 
relationship to Sarah. It is difficult to under- 
stand how, in view of the justly merited rebuke 
administered to him by the Egyptian monarch 
for the same offense over twenty years before, 
and especially in view of the assurance he had 
recently received of his acceptance before God 
(15 : 6), and of Sarah's destiny to be the mother 
of the promised seed (n : 16), he could have al- 
lowed himself again to resort to this ignoble 
expedient, unless, indeed, as Murphy explains, 
" he was not yet conscious of anything wrong or 
even imprudent in this piece of policy," or may 
have concluded, from the result of his first ex- 
periment in deception, that God would protect 
him in its repetition. But however he thought 
or reasoned, in itself his conduct was highly 
culpable and inexcusable. " It was deceit, de- 
liberate and premeditated — there was no sudden 
pressure upon him — it was a distrust of God 
every way surprising, and it was calculated to 
produce injurious effects on the heathen around. 
Its mischievous tendency was not long in being 
developed." 

Abimelech king of Gerar. Abimelech, 
signifying father-king, appears to have been the 
common title of the Philistine kings, as Pharaoh 
was of the Egyptian (comp. 26 : i). 

Sent and took Sarah ; that is, into his 
harem, as Pharaoh previously had done (see on 
J 2 = 15). Some think that Abimelech was led to 
this step from a desire to form an alliance with 
Abraham by marriage ; a supposition for which 
the narrative furnishes no ground. He was 
doubtless rather attracted by Sarah's personal 



appearance. The beauty which captivated the 
Egyptians twenty years before (12 : u), she prob- 
ably still retained ; for " by faith she received 
power to conceive seed" (Het>. 11 : 11 ) ? and she 
nursed the child she bore. 

3. God 1 came to Abimelech in a dream 
by night. In early times a dream was often 
made the medium of communicating impor- 
tant truths (ver. 6: 41 : 1 ; Job 33 : 15). It was the 

means adopted here for the preservation of 
Sarah. 

Thou art but a dead man ; that is, in the 
most imminent danger of death. A deadly 
plague was already working in the body of 
Abimelech on account of Sarah (ver. 17). 

For she is a man's wife. In taking her 
therefore he had infringed upon the marriage 
rights of a stranger, than which no act could be 
more criminal. 

4. Wilt thou slay also (even) a righteous 
nation? This question appears to contain a 
reference to the recent awful overthrow of 
Sodom, which must have greatly impressed the 
surrounding tribes. As if Abimelech had said : 
" It was right in thee to slay a notoriously filthy 
and wicked nation ; but I and my people are 
not such; in the present case we acted igno- 
rantly and therefore innocently ; surely thou 
wilt not destroy the innocent, as if they were 
guilty." 

5. Said he not, himself, unto me, She is 
my sister? From which it is clear that the 
Philistine monarch, equally with the Egyptian, 
shrank from the sin of adultery. 

6. Yea, I know that thou didst this in 
the integrity of thy heart ; in the integrity 
of thy heart thou hast done this; that is, judged 



1 Some of the critics regard this chapter as only another version of 11 : 10-20, making that the Jeho- 
vistic imitation of this the Elohistic original. But, as Keil has clearly shown, the use of Elohim through- 
out the present chapter is sufficiently accounted for by observing that it describes the intercourse of Deity 
with a heathen monarch, to whom the name of Jehovah was unknown : while in ver. 18 it is Jehovah, 
the covenant God of Abraham, who interposes to save him. Moreover, the points of resemblance between 
the two incidents are more than counterbalanced by the points of diversity between them. In Abimelech 
we see a totally different character from that of Pharaoh. 



152 



GENESIS 



[Ch. XX. 



7 Now therefore restore the man his wife ; for he 
is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee, and thou 
shalt live : and if thou restore" her not, know thou 
that thou shalt surely die, thou, and all that are 
thine. 

8 Therefore Abimelech rose early in the morning, 
and called all his servants, and told all the.se things 
in their ears : and the men were sore afraid. 

9 Then Abimelech called Abraham, and said unto 
him, What hast thou done unto us? and what have 
I offended thee, that thou hast brought on me and 
on my kingdom a great sin ? thou hast done deeds 
unto me that ought not to be done. 

10 And Abimelech said unto Abraham, What 
sawest thou, that thou hast done this thing? 

11 And Abraham said, Because I thought, Surely 
the fear of God is not in this place ; and they will 
slay me for my wife's sake. 

12 And yet indeed she is my sister ; she is the 
daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my 
mother ; and she became my wife. 

13 And it came to pass, when God caused me to 
wander from my father's house, that I said unto 
her, This is thy kindness which thou shalt shew 
unto me ; at every place whither we shall come, 
say of me, He is my brother. 



7 her. Now therefore restore the man's wife ; for 
he is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee, and 
thou shalt live : and if thou restore her not, know 
thou that thou shalt surely die, thou, and all that 

8 are thine. And Abimelech rose early in the 
morning, and called all his servants, and told all 
these things in their ears : and the men were sore 

9 afraid. Then Abimelech called Abraham, and 
said unto him, What hast thou done unto us? 
and wherein have I sinned against thee, that 
thou hast brought on me and on my kingdom a 
great sin? thou hast done deeds unto me that 

10 ought not to be done. And Abimelech said 
unto Abraham, What sawest thou, that thou hast 

11 done this thing ? And Abraham said, Because I 
thought, Surely the fear of God is not in this 
place ; and they will slay me for my wife's sake. 

12 And moreover she is indeed my sister, the 
daughter of my father, but not the daughter of 

13 my mother ; and she became my wife : and it 
came to pass, when God caused me to wander 
from my father's house, that I said unto her, 
This is thy kindness which thou shalt shew unto 
me ; at every place whither we shall come, say 



from thy moral standpoint. In God's estima- 
tion, however, the act was essentially sinful, as 
appears from the instruction to seek the media- 
tion of his prophet which follows (ver. 7). 

7. For he is a prophet. This is the first oc- 
currence of the term prophet, which is nowhere 
else applied to Abraham in the Hexateuch, al- 
though the same thought is expressed in 18 : 17 
seq., where Jehovah makes him his confidant. 
The Hebrew word K^, nabhi, from K3J, nabha, 
to boil up or gush forth like a fountain, is ap- 
plied to one who speaks by a divine afflatus 

(Deut. 13 : 1 ; Judg. 6 : 8 ; 1 Sam. 9 : 9 ; 1 Kings 22 : 7).l 

The prophet is primarily one who speaks for 
another, or as his mouthpiece or interpreter, as 
appears from Exod. 7:1, where God declares to 
Moses : " See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh, 
and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet." 
The words of the prophet may relate to past, 
present, or future events. The term is here ap- 
plied to Abraham, not in the common accepta- 
tion of the term as one foretelling future events, 
but as one who is the recipient of divine revela- 
tions, and who stands in a specially near relation 
to God. 

He shall pray for thee. Abraham's first 
exercise in prophecy was not in speaking to 
men for God — the more distinctive work of the 
prophet (Exod. 4:i5; ?:i), but in speaking to 
God for men — the more distinctive work of the 

priest (ver. 7 ; Jer. 7 : 16 ; 11 : 14 ; 14 : 11). In him the 

prophetic and priestly offices were combined. 



The gravity of Abimelech' s offense arose from 
the fact that it was committed against a prophet 

(see Ps. 105 : 14, 15). 

9. Thou hast done deeds unto me that 
ought not to be done. In a bold and manly 
style Abimelech remonstrates with Abraham, 
appealing to those first principles of moral right 
which bind prophets and heathen alike, but 
which Abraham had openly disregarded. If 
we were shut up to this portion of the narrative 
for learning of the two personages, we should 
probably take Abraham for the heathen, and 
Abimelech for the prophet of the Lord. 

11. I thought, Surely the fear of God is 
not in this place. This was Abraham's first 
apology to Abimelech. But believing this to be 
the character of the king and people of Gerar, 
why did he go among them? Or going, why 
did he not rely upon the divine protection, in- 
stead of resorting to sinful intrigue ? 

12. And yet indeed she is my sister. 
This was the second of Abraham's extenuating 
pleas, that he had not exactly lied, having 
spoken at least a half-truth. 

The daughter of my father, but not the 
daughter of my mother. Many Jewish and 
Christian interpreters think that daughter here 
means granddaughter, and that Sarah was the 
same as Iscah, the sister of Lot (n = 29), who is 
called the brother of Abraham (1* : ie). Many, 
however, take the statement of the text to mean 
that Sarah was her husband's half-sister, that 



1 It is not to be inferred from 1 Sam. 9 : 9, that the term ^33, nabhi, is not of greater antiquity than the 
time of Samuel. The term HK "), roeh, or seer, was applied to prophets as denoting that the substance of 
the prophetic message was usually presented in the form of a vision or trance, whether the body was 
sleeping or waking, or in some intermediate condition (see Num. 24 : 3). This term, which appears to 
have come into use during the time of the judges, was gradually supplanted by the other term, N'JJ. 
nabhi, which indicated the authority of the prophet as one speaking in the place of God. 



Ch. XXL] 



GENESIS 



153 



14 And Abimelech took sheep, and oxen, and 
menservants, and womenservants, and gave them 
unto Abraham, and restored him Sarah his wife. 

15 And Abimelech said, Behold, my land is before 
thee : dwell where it pleaseth thee. 

16 And unto Sarah he said, Behold, I have given 
thy brother a thousand pieces of silver : behold, he 
is to thee a covering of the eyes, unto all that are 
with thee, and with all other: thus she was re- 
proved. 

17 So Abraham prayed unto God : and God healed 
Abimelech, and his wife, and his maidservants ; 
and thev bare children. 

18 For the Lord had fast closed up all the wombs 
of the house of Abimelech, because of Sarah, Abra- 
ham's wife. 



14 of me, He is my brother. And Abimelech took 
sheep and oxen, and menservants and women- 
servants, and gave them unto Abraham, and re- 

15 stored him Sarah his wife. And Abimelech said, 
Behold, my land is before thee : dwell where it 

16 pleaseth thee. And unto Sarah he said, Behold, 
I have given thy brother a thousand pieces of 
silver : behold, it is for thee a covering of the 
eyes to all that are with thee ; and in respect of 

17 all thou art righted. And Abraham prayed unto 
God : and God healed Abimelech, and his wife, 
and his maidservants ; and they bare children. 

18 For the Lord had fast closed up all the wombs 
of the house of Abimelech, because of Sarah 
Abraham's wife. 



CHAPTEE XXI. 



1 AND the Lord visited Sarah as he had said, and 
the Lord did unto Sarah as he had spoken. 

2 For Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son 
in his old age, at the set time of which God had 
spoken to him. 

3 And Abraham called the name of his son that 
was born unto him, whom Sarah bare to him, 
Isaac. 

4 And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac being 
eight days old, as God had commanded him. 

5 And Abraham was a hundred years old, when 
his son Isaac was born unto him. 

6 And Sarah said, God hath made me to laugh, so 
tUat all that hear will laugh with me. 

7 And she said, Who would have said unto Abra- 
ham, that Sarah should have given children suck? 
for I have borne him a son in his old age. 

8 And the child grew, and was weaned : and 



1 AND the Lord visited Sarah as he had said, 
and the Lord did unto Sarah as he had spoken. 

2 And Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son 
in his old age, at the set time of which God had 

3 spoken to him. And Abraham called the name 
of his son that was born unto him, whom Sarah 

4 bare to him, Isaac. And Abraham circumcised 
his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as 

5 God had commanded him. And Abraham was 
an hundred years old, when his son Isaac was 

6 born unto him. And Sarah said, God hath made 
me to laugh ; every one that heareth will laugh 

7 with me. And she said, Who would have said 
unto Abraham, that Sarah should give children 
suck ? for I have borne him a son in his old age. 

8 And the child grew, and was weaned : and 



is, Terah'a daughter by another wife than 
Abraham's mother. 

16. Behold, he (it, the thousaud pieces of 
silver) is to {for) thee a covering of the 
eyes, that is, a recompense or pacificatory of- 
fering for the wrong done to Sarah. Some com- 
mentators take the words to mean a veil, which 
Sarah was to procure for the thousand pieces of 
silver ; but for this the Hebrew employs another 
word. " Covering the eyes " is simply a figura- 
tive expression for an atoning gift, and is to be 
explained by the analogous expression, "to 
cover any one's face," so that he may forget a 
wrong done. Thus in 32 : 20 Jacob is repre- 
sented as saying, "I will appease him (Esau) 
with the present that goeth before me" ; that is, 
literally, " I will cover his face with the 
present " ; the word rendered appease signifying 
usually to make atonement (Exod. 29 : 37). 

So in Job 9 : 24: "He covereth the faces of 
the judges" ; that is, he bribes them (comp. Prov. 

21 : 14). 

To all that are with thee ; all of whom 
were concerned in this public vindication of 
her character. 



Chap. 21. 1-21. The Birth of Isaac 
and Expulsion of Ishmael. 1. The Lord 
visited Sarah. The Lord ie said to visit one, 
when he specially manifests his presence, either 
in the way of mercy or of judgment. For in- 



stances of the former, see 50 : 24 ; Ruth 1:6; 
1 Sam. 2 : 21 ; Jer. 29 : 10 ; Zeph. 2:7; of the 
latter, Job 35 : 15 ; Ps. 59 : 5 ; Isa. 26 : 14 ; Jer. 
9:9; 49 : 8 ; Amos 3 : 14. 

As he had spoken (see 17:21; is : 10, u). 
What God (Elohim) then promised, the Lord 
( Jehovah ) now fulfills. 

3. Isaac ; the name selected by God for the 
promised son before his birth (tt : it, 19). 

4. As God had commanded him; in 
17 : 10, on which see note. 

5. Abraham was a hundred years 
old. Twenty-five years had he waited for the 
fulfilment of the promise — a remarkable instance 
of faith and patience (R°m. 4 : 20). Paternity, 
which was unusual at a hundred, was miracu- 
lous when conjoined with maternity at ninety. 
Isaac was a supernatural production, as appears 
from Rom. 4:17 and Heb. 11 : 12. 

6. God hath made me to laugh, or, a 
laughing hath God prepared for me (Ps. 126 : l-s). 
The birth of Isaac called forth joyous laughter 
in Sarah's tent, and opened founts of song in 
Sarah's breast. Like the birth of Christ, that 
of Isaac was " fore-announced of God, waited 
for in faith, accomplished through divine 
power, and welcomed with bursts of joy." 

8. And was weaned. Mothers, in early 
times, suckled their children themselves, and 
did not wean them till they were from thirty to 
thirty-six months old. When Samuel was 



154 



GENESIS 



[Ch. XXL 



Abraham made a great feast the same day that 
Isaac was weaned. 

9 And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, 
which she had borne unto Abraham, mocking. 

10 Wherefore she said unto Abraham, Cast out 
this bondwoman and her son : for the son of this 
bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even 
with Isaac. 

11 And the thing was very grievous in Abraham's 
sight because of his son. 

12 And God said unto Abraham, Let it not be 
grievous in thy sight because of the lad, and be- 
cause of thy bondwoman ; in all that Sarah hath 
said unto thee, hearken unto her voice ; for in Isaac 
shall thy seed be called. 

13 And also of the son of the bondwoman will I 
make a nation, because he is thy seed. 

14 And Abraham rose up early in the morning, 
and took bread, and a bottle of water, and gave it 
unto Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and the 



Abraham made a great feast on the day that 

9 Isaac was weaned. And Sarah saw the son of 

Hagar the Egyptian, which she had borne unto 

10 Abraham, mocking. Wherefore she said unto 
Abraham, Cast out this bondwoman and her 
son : for the son of this bondwoman shall not be 

11 heir with my son, even with Isaac. And the 
thing was very grievous in Abraham's sight on 

12 account of his son. And God said unto Abra- 
ham, Let it not be grievous in thy sight because 
of the lad, and because of thy bondwoman ; in 
all that Sarah saith unto thee, hearken unto her 
voice; for in Isaac shall thy seed be called. 

13 And also of the son of the bondwoman will I 

14 make a nation, because he is thy seed. And 
Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took 
bread and a bottle of water, and gave it unto 
Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and the child, 



weaned he was old enough to be left with Eli for 
the service of the tabernacle (i Sam. i : 22-24 and 

2 : 11 ; oomp. Exod. 2 : 7, 9 ; 2 Chron. 31 : 16 ; 2 Mace. 7 : 27, 

28 ; Jos., Ant., xi., 9). Children remained till their 
fifth year in the care ot their mothers (Lev. 27 .- 6) ; 
then the sons came under the management of 
their fathers, and were taught not only the arts 
and duties of life, but were instructed in the 
Mosaic law (Deut. e : 20-25 ; 11 : 19). Ishmael, who 
was fourteen years old when Isaac was born, 
would now be seventeen. 

Abraham made a great feast. After the 
manner of those times. At this time the child 
entered, as it were, upon a separate and inde- 
pendent existence. 

9. And Sarah saw the son of Hagar 
the Egyptian . . . mocking. As the word 
here rendered mocking comes from the same 
root with Isaac, PHV, tsachaq, which signifies 
to laugh, some have thought it should have that 
meaning here, and so have favored the transla- 
tion of the Septuagint and Vulgate versions: 
" And Sarah saw the son of Hagar playing with 
Isaac." It might, indeed, in another context 
bear such meaning (as for example, in 26 : 8 ; 
Exod. 32 : 6; Judg. 16 : 25) ; but here, as the 
narrative plainly shows, it has the sense of 
laughing at, deriding, mocking, as in 19 : 14 ; 
39 : 14, 17. Evidently Paul so understood it, 
for he says that " he that was born after the flesh 
persecuted him that was born after the Spirit" 
(Gai. 4 : 29). This portion of the history is made 
the basis of the allegory that is drawn out by 
Paul in Gal. 4 : 22-31, in which Ishmael and 
Isaac respectively represent Abraham's natural 
descendants and Abraham's spiritual posterity ; 



Israel after the flesh and Israel after the spirit ; 
souls in legal bondage and souls enjoying spirit- 
ual freedom. 

10. Cast out this bondwoman and her 
son. 1 In this too imperious demand of Sarah, 
she appears to ignore the relationship — brought 
about through her own advice — that Hagar and 
Ishmael sustained to Abraham ; and it was only 
natural for him at first to demur about carrying 
it into execution. While he loved Isaac as the 
child of promise, he yet cherished a tender 
paternal affection for Ishmael (17 : is). When, 
however, he learned (ver. 12) that compliance 
with Sarah's proposal, though painful to flesh 
and blood, was yet according to the divine will, 
he no longer hesitated ; at all hazards God must 
be obeyed. 

12. In Isaac shall thy seed be called. 
That is, as Paul explains in Rom. 9 : 7, 8 (comp. 
Heb. 11 : is) f Abraham's seed, emphatically so 
called, was to be limited to the line of Isaac and 
his descendants to the exclusion of Ishmael. 

13. Also of the son of the bondwoman 
will I make a nation. This is a renewal of 
the promise in 16 : 10 and 17 : 20, on which see 
notes. 

14. A bottle of water. In the East, water 
and other liquids are carried on a journey in a 
leathern vessel, formed of the entire skin of a 
lamb, kid, or goat sewed up, the foreleg serving 
as the tap, and the neck as the mouth of the 
bottle, usually carried over the shoulder. 

It was far from Abraham's wish, in sending 
Hagar and Ishmael away, to deal harshly or 
niggardly with them. The bread (which in- 
cluded other articles of food) and water, though 



1 [The Code of Khammurabi forbade the selling of a bondwoman who had been given by the wife to 
the husband and had had children, should the wife afterward have a child of her own and wish to get rid 
of her. He could only send her away. Does this custom, about Abraham's time, put into a code of laws 
which were for all the kingdom of Babylon, of which Canaan at that time was a province, help to explain 
some details of the narrative referring to Hagar? Sayce thinks it does. If so, it affords proof of the 
minute accuracy of the account.] 



Oh. XXL] 



GENESIS 



155 



child, and sent her away : and she departed, and 
wandered in the wilderness of Beer-sheba. 

15 And the water was spent in the bottle, and she 
cast the child under one of the shrubs. 

16 And she went, and sat her down over against 
him a good way off, as it Avere a bowshot: for she 
said, Let me not see the death of the child. And 
she sat over against him, and lifted up her voice, 
and wept. 

17 And God heard the voice of the lad ; and the i 
angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and I 
said unto her, What aileth thee, Hagar ? fear not ; 
for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he 
is. 

18 Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him in thine 
hand ; for I will make him a great nation. 

19 And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well 
of water; and she went, and rilled the bottle with 
water, and gave the lad drink. 

20 And God was with the lad ; and he grew, and 
dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer. 

21 And he dwelt in the wilderness of Paran : and 
his mother took him a wife out of the land of 
Egypt. 

22 And it came to pass at that time, that Abime- 
lech and Phichol the chief captain of his host spake 
unto Abraham, saying, God is with thee in all that 
thou doest : 

23 Now therefore swear unto me here by God, 



and sent her away : and she departed, and wan- 

15 dered in the wilderness of Beer-sheba. And the 
water in the bottle was spent, and she cast the 

16 child under one of the shrubs. And she went, 
and sat her down over against him a good way 
off, as it were a bowshot : for she said, Let me 
not look upon the death of the child. And 
she sat over against him, and lift up her voice, 

17 and wept. And God heard the voice of the lad ; 
and the angel of God called to Hagar out of 
heaven, and said unto her, What aileth thee, 
Hagar? fear not ; for God hath heard the voice 

18 of the lad where he is. Arise, lift up the lad, and 
hold him in thine hand ; for I will make him a 

19 great nation. And God opened her eyes, and 
she saw a well of water; and she went, and 
filled the bottle with water, and gave the lad 

20 drink. And God was with the lad, and he 
grew ; and he dwelt in the wilderness, and be- 

21 came an archer. And he dwelt in the wilder- 
ness of Paran : and his mother took him a wife 
out of the laud of Egypt. 

22 And it came to pass at that time, that Abim- 
elech and Phicol the captain of his host spake 
unto Abraham, saying, God is with thee in all 

23 that thou doest : now therefore swear unto me 



seemingly a scanty provision for their journey, 
were yet deemed sufficient for their immediate 
needs ; their privations arose from their losing 
the track or being unable to discover the well. 
It was expected when they went out that they 
would fix on some place where they might settle. 
In 25 : 6 we are informed that Abraham " gave 
gifts unto the sons of his concubines ; and he 
sent them away from Isaac his son, while he yet 
lived, eastward, unto the east country." As 
Ishmael united with Isaac in burying Abraham, 
it shows that though he was separated from the 
household, he was not an outcast from the 
family. 

Beer-sheba. For the origin of the name 
see on ver. 31. It is introduced here by anticipa- 
tion, unless the incident recorded in ver 22, 23 
had previously taken place, which is not im- 
probable. By wilderness in Scripture is meant 
the land that is not profitable for cultivation, 
though adapted to a greater or less extent for 
pasturage. 

The wilderness of Beer-sheba is the un- 
cultivated district which stretches to the 
south of the well of Beer-sheba, until it meets 
the wilderness of Paran. By this time Abra- 
kam, who had now been dwelling for a year at 
least in the neighborhood of Gerar (20 : i), may 
have taken up his residence at Beer-sheba (see 

ver. 33, 31 ), 

17. The angel of God. In Genesis this 
name occurs only here and in 31 : 11, and once 
again in the Pentateuch (Exod. u:9). Else- 
where it is always "the angel of the Lord" 

(see 16 : 7, 9, 10, 11 ; 22 : 11, 15 ; Num. 22 : 23, 24, 26, 31, 32, 
34,35; Judg. 13:18; 2 Kings 2 : 3, 15). The USe of 



" the angel of the Lord " in 16 : 7 and of " the 
angel of God " in this verse is due, " not to a 
difference of writers, but of situation. There 
Hagar was regarded as a member of Abraham's 
household, and as such still under Jehovah's 
protection. Here she and Ishmael are finally 
separated from the patriarch and his family, 
and are henceforth disconnected from the chosen 
race." 

21. The wilderness of Paran. This is 
probably the great desert, now called the desert 
El-Tih, that is, "the wanderings," extending 
from the Wady-el-Arabah on the east, to the 
gulf of Suez on the west, and from the Sinaitic 
range on the south to the borders of Palestine on 

the north (Num. 10 : 12 ; 13 : 3; 1 Kings 11 : 18 ; Hab. 3:8). 

Took him a wife out of the land of 
Egypt. The father of a family selected wives 
for his sons, and husbands for his daughters 

(24 : 4; Exod. 21 : 9 ; Deut. 22 : 16 ; Judg, 14 : 1-4). As 

Ishmael was now virtually deprived of his 
father, his mother set about forming a marriage 
connection for him. 

22-34. Covenant between Abimelech 
and Abraham. 22. Phicol. This name 
occurs in 26 : 26 ; and as it signifies " mouth of 
all," it has been supposed to be the name of an 
officer who filled the place of prime minister of 
Abimelech, through whom alone petitions or 
complaints could be presented to the king. 

God is with thee in all that thou doest. 
Hence his desire to have him for an ally. 

23. Now therefore swear unto me here 
by God. Abraham agrees (ver. 24) to enter into 
a covenant of peace and amity with Abimelech, 
but proposes as a preliminary step to settle an 



156 



GENESIS 



[Ch. XXI. 



that thou wilt not deal falsely with me, nor with 
my son, nor with my son's son : but according to the 
kindness that I have done unto thee, thou shalt do 
unto me, and to the land wherein thou hast so- 
journed. 

24 And Abraham said, I will swear. 

25 And Abraham reproved Abimelech because of 
a well of water, which Abimelech's servants had 
violently taken away. 

26 And Abimelech said, I wot not who hath done 
this thing : neither didst thou tell me, neither yet 
heard I of it, but to day. 

27 And Abraham took sheep and oxen, and gave 
them unto Abimelech ; and both of them made a 
covenant. 

28 And Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the 
flock by themselves. 

29 And Abimelech said unto Abraham, What 
mean these seven ewe lambs which thou hast set by 
themselves? 

30 And he said, For these seven ewe lambs shalt 
thou take of my hand, that they may be a witness 
unto me, that I have digged this well. 

31 Wherefore he called that place Beer-sheba ; 
because there they sware both of them. 

32 Thus they made a covenant at Beer-sheba : 
then Abimelech rose up, and Phichol the chief cap- 
tain of his host, and they returned into the land of 
the Philistines 

33 And Abraham planted a grove in Beer-sheba. 
and called there on the name of the Lord, the ever- 
lasting God. 

34 And Abraham sojourned in the Philistines' 
land many days. 



here by God that thou wilt not deal falsely with 
me, nor with my son, nor with my son's 6on : 
but according to the kindness that I have done 
unto thee, thou shalt do unto me, and to the 
21 land wherein thou hast sojourned. And Abra- 

25 ham said, I will swear. And Abraham reproved 
Abimelech because of the well of water, which 
Abimelech's servants had violently taken away. 

26 And Abimelech said, I know not who hath done 
this thing: neither didst thou tell me, neither 

27 yet heard I of it, but to-day. And Abraham took 
sheep and oxen, and gave them unto Abimelech ; 

28 and they two made a covenant. And Abraham 
set seven ewe lambs of the flock by themselves. 

29 And Abimelech said unto Abraham, What mean 
these seven ewe lambs which thou hast set by 

30 themselves? And he said. These seven ewe 
lambs shalt thou take of my hand, that it may 
be a witness unto me, that I have digged this 

31 well. Wherefore he called that place Beer- 
sheba ; because there they swave both of them. 

32 So they made a covenant at Beer-sheba: and 
Abimelech rose up, and Phicol the captain of 
his host, and they returned into the land of the 

33 Philistines. And Abraham planted a tamarisk 
tree in Beer-sheba, and called there on the name 

34 of the Lord, the Everlasting God. And Abra- 
ham sojourned in the land of the Philistines 
many days. 



existing dispute (ver. 25, 26), lest it should en- 
danger their future harmony. This dispute 
concerned a well which had been dug by Abra- 
ham, but which the servants of Abimelech had 
violently seized. Abimelech felt the force of 
Abraham's complaint, and was indignant at the 
injustice of his slaves, of which he had never 
before been informed. "Wells were of great 
importance to a pastoral chief, and on the suc- 
cessful operation of sinking a new one, the 
owner was solemnly infeft in person. If, how- 
ever, they were allowed to get out of repair, the 
restorer acquired a right to them. In unoccu- 
pied lands the possession of wells gave a right 
of property in the land, and dread of this had 
caused the offense for which Abraham reproved 
Abimelech." 

27. And Abraham took sheep and 
oxen, and gave them unto Abimelech. 
They were probably first presented to Abimelech 
on account of his superior rank, which Abra- 
ham thus recognized. 

30. That they may be a witness unto 
me, for me a witness. The acceptance of these 
seven lambs by Abimelech was an acknowledg- 
ment on his part that the well belonged to 
Abraham. 



31. He called that place Beer-sheba ; l 

that is, the well of the oath, or, the well of the 
seven. 

Because there they sware both of 
them. The Hebrew word for swear is derived 
from the same root as the word for seven, if not 
from that word itself. The number seven had 
for the ancients a special significance as the 

Sacred number (conip. Exod. 37 : 28 ; Lev. 4:6); so 

solemn oaths were attested, either by the pres- 
ence of seven witnesses, or by the slaughter of 
seven animals. 

33. And Abraham planted a grove 
(a tamarisk tree) in Beer-sheba; a tree of 
nearly the size of the oak, abounding in Syria 
and Egypt, and celebrated for its hardiness, its 
long endurance, and the perpetual greenness of 
its leaves. The Hebrew term bw$, 'eshel, is 
probably here used in a collective sense for a 
grove of tamarisks (1 Sam. 22 : 6; si : 13). From 
the ensuing clause— and called there on the 
name of the Lord, the everlasting God 
— it would seem that Abraham's object in plant- 
ing this grove was a religious one. The practice of 
using forests or groves as places of worship was 
common among all nations in early times. 
When men had no fixed abodes, or when they 



1 Some writers, regarding the tradition of seven wells as unreliable, speak of only two or three wells 
at this historic spot. In the April number (1901) of the " Biblical World," Prof. George L. Robinson, of Mc- 
Cormick Theological Seminary, who recently traveled extensively in Palestine, affirms that he found six 
wells, five of which contained water ; and an Arab guide pointed out the site of the seventh, with un- 
mistakable evidence of an ancient well, long ago filled up. 



Ch. XXII.] 



GENESIS 



157 



CHAPTER XXII. 



1 AND it came to pass after these things, that 
God did tempt Abraham, aud said uuto him, Abra- 
ham : and he said, Behold, here I am. 

2 And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son 
Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land 
of Moriah ; and offer him there for a burnt offering 
upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of. 



1 AND it came to pass after these things, that 
God did prove Abraham, and said unto him, 

2 Abraham ; and he said, Here am I. And he 
said, Take now thy son, thine only son, whom 
thou lovest, even Isaac, and get thee into the 
land of Moriah ; and offer him there for a burnt 
offering upon one of the mountains which 1 will 



had not yet learned how to construct edifices 
large "enough to accommodate many in acts of 
worship, groves of trees became their temples — 
the first temples of mankind. But in those 
early times the worship in groves, which was 
proper in itself, became idolatrous ; ideas and 
usages of an abominable kind came to be con- 
nected With it (2 Kings 17 : 10 ; Isa. 57 : 5 ; Jer. 17 : 2). 

It behooved God, therefore, to distinguish be- 
tween his worship and the worship of the 
heathen. He forbade the planting of groves 
near his sanctuary or altar (Deut. 16 : 21) f and 
those which had been polluted by idol worship 
were to be destroyed. It is named among the 
most serious offenses of the kings of Israel, and 
some of those of Judah, that they planted 
groves, or did not cut down the groves (Exod. 

34 : 13 ; 1 Kings 14 : 15) ; while those kings by 

whom groves were destroyed, are greatly ap- 
plauded (2 Kings 18 : 4 ; 23 : 14 ; 2 Chron. 14 : 3 ; 17 : 6 ; 
19 : 3; 31 : 1 ; 34 : 3). 



Chap. 22. Trial of Abraham's Faith. 
This chapter records the history of Abraham's 
last and greatest trial — that for which all his 
previous trials had been gradually preparing 
him. It was intended as a test of his faith. 

1. After these things ; that is, not merely 
after the things recorded in the preceding chap- 
ter, but after all the trials through which the 
patriarch had passed during his forty or fifty 
years' residence in Canaan. 

God did tempt (prove) Abraham; that 
is, put him to the proof. The rendering, tempt, 
of the Authorized version is erroneous ; the 
original term HQJ, nissah, signifies to try, to 

test, tO prove ( see Exod. 15 : 25 ; 16 : 4 ; 20 : 20 ; Deut. 
4 : 34 ; 8 : 2, 16 ; 13 : 3 ; 1 Sam. 17 : 39), This render- 
ing is, moreover, unfortunate, since the word 
tempt has usually the sense of exciting to sin, 
which under no circumstances can be affirmed of 
God. James expressly declares (i •• 13) that " God 
is not tempted of evil, neither tempteth he any 

man." In many passages (see Exod. 17 : 2; Num. 14 : 

22 ; Deut. 6 : 16 : Ps. 78 : is ; 106 : H) men are said to 
try or tempt God ; but in all such cases the word 
has not the sense of to tempt to evil, but rather 
to try God's forbearance by doing evil. 
And said unto him, Abraham. The 



communication came by night (see ver. 3) ( and 
from God himself. 

2. Take now thy son, thine only son 
Isaac, whom thou lovest. This command 
is marked by a particularity of endearing ex- 
pression which, by profoundly stirring the 
patriarch's affection for his son, instead of miti- 
gating, must rather have greatly aggravated, the 
pain of offering him in sacrifice. 

The land (or, distinct; comp. Num. 32 : 1 ; 
Josh. 8:1; 10 : 41, in which j*")^, 'erets, occurs 
in this sense) of Moriah. Most modern exposi- 
tors hold that Moriah (here having the article) 
is the name of the hill on which in later times 

the temple Stood (see 2 Chron. 3:1; also on ver. 14). 

And offer him there for a burnt offer- 
ing. To Abraham's mind, had he stayed to 
reason, this command must have seemed to con- 
flict with the promise that in Isaac his seed 
should be called (21:12). If he believed the 
promise, how could he obey the command ? If 
he accepted the command, how could- he rely on 
the promise ? But he brought his reason into 
captivity to the obedience of faith. " He wa- 
vered not through unbelief," "accounting" — 
yet not knowing it — " that God is able to raise 
up, even from the dead ; from whence he did 
also in a parable receive him back." 

[We cannot understand either God's command 
or Abraham's action in reference to it, apart 
from the conditions which were around him. 
The practice of human sacrifice was prevalent 
among the neighbors of Israel (2 Kings 3 : 27 ; 17 : 
31) and found its way into Judah under the later 

kings (2 Kings 16:3; 23:10; Jer. 7:31, etc.). In 

Leviticus and Deuteronomy (Lev. is : 21 ; Deut. 12 ; 
31) it is shown that this practice existed in 
Canaan when these books were written, and had 
doubtless come down from the remoter past. 
Surrounded as Abraham was by those who sac- 
rificed their children, the command to offer up 
Isaac would not shock his moral sense and lead 
him to regard it as a temptation of the devil 
rather than the will of God. He could proceed 
to obey without violation of his conscience. His 
faith and devotion were thus tried to the utmost. 
It was shown that he was ready to do violence 
to his tenderest feelings and give up his grandest 
expectations rather than fail to obey God. 



158 



GENESIS 



[Ch. XXII. 



3 And Abraham rose up early in the morning, 
and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men 
with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood 
for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto 
the place of which God had told him. 

4 Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his 
eyes, and saw the place afar off. 

5 And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide 
ye here with the ass ; and I and the lad will go yon- 
der and worship, and come again to you. 

6 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt 
offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son ; and he 
took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they 
went both of them together. 

7 And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and 
said, My father : and he said, Here am I, my son. 
And he said, Behold the fire and the wood : but 
where is the lamb for a burnt offering? 

8 And Abraham said, My son, God will provide 
himself a lamb for a burnt offering : so they went 
both of them together. 

9 And they came to the place which God had 
told him of ; and Abraham built an altar there, and 
laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, 
and laid him on the altar upon the wood. 



3 tell thee of. And Abraham rose early in the 
morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of 
his young men with him, and Isaac his son ; and 
he clave the wood for the burnt offering, and 
rose up, and went unto the place of which God 

4 had told him. On the third day Abraham lifted 

5 up his eyes, and saw the place afar off. And 
Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye 
here with the ass, and I and the lad will go yon- 
der; and we will worship, and come again to 

6 you. And Abraham took the wood of the burnt 
offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son ; and he 
took in his hand the fire and the knife ; and they 

7 went both of them together. And Isaac spake 
unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: 
and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, 
Behold, the fire and the wood : but where is the 

8 lamb for a burnt offering? And Abraham said, 
God will provide himself the lamb for a burnt 
offering, my son : so they went both of them to- 

9 gether. And they came to the place which God 
had told him of; and Abraham built the altar 
there, and laid the wood in order, and bound 
Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar, upon 



But when this had been accomplished, God 
forbade the sacrifice of Isaac. It was shown to 
the heathen, that while he demanded absolute 
self-surrender to his will, he not only did not 
sanction but condemned their practice of human 
sacrifice, which the earlier part of the transac- 
tion might seem to approve. Not even in the 
supreme evidence of self-sacrifice and devotion 
could the offering of Isaac be acceptable after 
the full testing of the spirit of the patriarch had 
been accomplished ; the symbolic sacrifice of a 
sheep would then suffice] . 

3. Abraham rose up early in the morn- 
ing* Such was his habit after receiving a 

divine Communication (see 19 : 27 ; 20 : 8; 21 : 14) — 

such the promptitude of his obedience. It will 
be observed that he kept the painful secret in 
his own bosom, not telling even Sarah whither 
he was going and why ; because he was in ear- 
nest, and would have nothing occur to prevent 
the execution of the command that had been 
laid upon him. 

He clave the wood for the burnt offer- 
ing. His preparation for the sacrifice was 
most complete. He took the wood with him, 
"because the mountain probably afforded noth- 
ing but green shrubs, which would make a very 
slow fire, and thus prolong the consumption of 
the victim." 

4. On the third day. The distance from 
Beer-sheba to Jerusalem, which is something 
over forty miles, might, at the ordinary rate of 
travel, have been covered in two days. Prob- 
ably, however, the necessary preparations for 
the journey consumed a part of the first day, in 
which case the destined spot would not be 
reached till the morning of the third day. 

Lifted up his eyes. These words do not 



imply a looking upward to an elevated object. 
Lot lifted up his eyes to see, from the heights 
east of Bethel, the vale of the Jordan far below 

him (13 : 10 ; comp. 24 : 63, 64). 

Saw the place afar off. The locality with 
which Moriah is connected is distinctly visible 
from the ridge of Mar Elyas on the traveled 
route, at a distance of about three miles. From 
ver. 2 it may be inferred that the particular 
mountain was pointed out to Abraham on the 
way by a special revelation. 

5. And come again to you. The verb 
here is in the cohortative form, which expresses 
the patriarch's intention more strongly than the 
simple imperfect would have done (see Driver, 
$ 49, a). Some commentators take the words as 
a kind of involuntary prophecy; others as a 
pardonable dissimulation into which Abraham 
fell in the agitation of the moment. The most 
acceptable view is that which regards them as 
the language of a strong faith — a faith that be- 
lieved unwaveringly, though vaguely, that fore- 
saw Isaac's restoration, though not the way in 
which it w r as to be brought about (comp. ver. 8 and 

Heb. 11 : 17-19). 

8. God will provide himself a lamb, 

better, as in R. Y '., provide for himself the lamb. 
Thus evasively, but not untruly, did Abraham 
answer Isaac's question. The fathers see in the 
words an unconscious prophecy. Abraham 
probably had Isaac in mind as the lamb for the 
burnt offering that God would provide; "but 
his words were more literally fulfilled in the un- 
expected event, the ram caught in the thicket, 
and in a deeper spiritual significance when God 
sent his Son to be ' the Lamb of God that taketh 
away the sin of the world.' " 

9. And bound Isaac his son. The term, 



Ch. XXII.] GENESIS 

10 And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and 
took the knife to slay his son. 

11 And the Angel of the Lord called unto him 
out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham : and 
he said, Here am I. 

12 And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the 
lad neither do thou any thing unto him : for now 
1 know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not 
withheld thy son, thine only soil, from me. 

13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, 
and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket 
by his horns: and Abraham went and took the 
ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the 
stead of his son. , . xl _ x . 

14 And Abraham called the name of that place 
Jehovah-jireh : as it is said to this day, In the mount 
of the Lord it shall be seen. 



159 



10 the wood. And Abraham stretched forth his 

11 hand, and took the knife to slay his son. And 
the angel of the Lord called unto him out of 
heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham : and he 

12 said, Here am I. And he said, Lay not thine 
hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing 
unto him: for now I know that thou fearest 
God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, 

13 thine only son, from me. And Abraham lifted 
up his eyes, and looked, and behold, behind him 
a ram caught in the thicket by his horns : and 
Abraham went and took the ram, and offered 
him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his 

14 son. And Abraham called the name of that 
place Jehovah-jireh : as it is said to this day, In 
the mount of the Lord it shall be provided. 



bound, derives its significance from the custom 
observed in the offering up of animal sacrifices. 
As the four legs of the victims were bound, so 
doubtless were Isaac's hands and feet. It must 
not be overlooked that he was a willing sacrifice. 
Having now reached the years of early man- 
hood, had he chosen to resist his father, he could 
easily have escaped from his hands and fled. 
His non-resistance proves that Abraham had 
now divulged to him the awful secret of the 
divine command concerning him. In allowing 
himself to be bound and laid upon the altar, he 
exhibited a faith hardly less strong and con- 
spicuous than that of his father, and thus showed 
himself truly the heir to the promises. 

11. The Angel of the Lobs) called unto 
him. A moment more and Isaac would have 
been slain ; but a voice which Abraham recog- 
nized as that of God himself, countermanded 
the awful mandate. Up to this verse is used 
only the name Elohim, God ; but now, when 
the divine intervention to provide a ransom 
for Isaac's life is related, the name Jehovah, 
the great covenant name, is employed, though 
the name Elohim occurs again in the next 
verse. 

12. Now I know that thou fearest God. 
Antecedent to the event which demonstrated the 
fact, God knew that Abraham feared him ; but 

• now, as the original word }?T, yadha, signifies, 
he knew it by actual experiment. Says Theod- 
oret : " God tried Abraham, not that he might 
learn what he knew already, but that he might 
show to others with how great justice he loved 
the patriarch." 

In the present trial, by resting on the naked 
word of God, Abraham fully satisfied the 
terms on which the great covenant blessing was 
still conditioned. It had, indeed, been pre- 
viously necessary for Abraham, by implicit 
reliance on the divine promise, to reach a cer- 
tain stage of spiritual development before he 
could become the parent of Isaac ; and now that 
Isaac was born, there was the danger lest Isaac 



and not the word of God should become the 
ground of his confidence. Hence the necessity 
of testing whether he could give up Isaac and 
yet cling to the promise. He triumphantly 
stood the test. 

14. Abraham called the name of that 
place Jehovah-jireh ; that is, the Lord will 
see, or, the Lord will provide. This name was 
given to the place in allusion, doubtless, to the 
expression in ver. 8, which is the same with the 
exception of the sacred names. From the strik- 
ing correspondence between these words and 
Moriah, which means vision of Jehovah, or 
Jehovah manifested, it has been held that the 
mount obtained its name from this event, and 
that it is so called in ver. 2 because it bore this 
name when the history was written (comp. judg. 

15 : 9, 14, 17). 

In the mount of the Lord it shall he 
seen, provided. A proverbial expression, 
originating in the remarkable interposition just 
narrated. The nearest English equivalent to 
the proverb is perhaps the familiar saying: 
" Man's extremity is God's opportunity." 

The offering up of Isaac has been justly re- 
garded as purposely symbolizing the sacrifice of 
Christ. The points of resemblance are too 
striking to have resulted from accident. " Isaac 
was the promised seed ; his coming was long 
waited for ; his birth was supernatural ; on him 
all the spiritual blessings which were to be 
granted to the world were suspended, and yet 
he was appointed to death. Isaac carried the 
wood for the burnt offering as Jesus carried the 
cross. He was offered by his father willingly, 
and willingly he was bound to the altar, and 
after being slain in purpose, he was by divine 
interposition raised, as it were, from the dead " 

(Heb. 11 : 19). 

It was probably on this occasion, when the 
patriarch's faith had mounted to its highest 
pinnacle, that he comprehended as never before 
the purpose of grace, and obtained that ravish- 
ing view of the day of Christ to which allusion 



160 



GENESIS 



[Ch. XXII. 



15 And the Angel of the Lord called unto Abra- 
ham out of heaven the second time, 

16 And said, By royself have I sworn, saith the 
Lord, for because thou hast done this thing, and 
hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, 

17 That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multi- 
plying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the 
heaven, and as the s"aud which is upon the sea 
shore ; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his 
enemies ; 

18 And in thy seed shall all the nations of the 
earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my 
voice. 

19 So Abraham returned unto his young men, 
and they rose up and went together to*Beer-sheba ; 
and Abraham dwelt at Beer-sheba. 

20 And it came to pass after these things, that it 
was told Abraham, saying, Behold, Milcah, she 
hath also borne children unto thy brother Nahor ; 

21 Huz his firstborn, and Buz his brother, and 
Kemuel the father of Aram, 

22 And Chesed, and Hazo, and Pildash, and 
Jidlaph, and Bethuel. 

23 And Bethuel begat Rebekah : these eight 
Milcah did bear to Nahor, Abraham's brother. 



15 And the angel of the Lord called unto Abraham 

16 a second time out of heaven, and said, By my 
self have I sworn, saith the Lord, because thou 
hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy 

17 son, thine only sou : that in blessing I wiil bless 
thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed 
as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which 
is upon the sea shore ; and thy seed shall possess 

18 the gate of his enemies ; and in thy seed shall all 
the nations of the earth be blessed ; because thou 

19 hast obeyed my voice. So Abraham returned 
unto his young meu, and they rose up and went 
together to Beer-sheba ; and Abraham dwelt at 
Beer-sheba. 

20 And it came to pass after these things, that it 
was told Abraham, saying, Behold, Milcah, she 
also hath borne children unto thy brother Nahor ; 

21 Uz his firstborn, and Buz his brother, and 

22 Kemuel the father of Aram ; and Chesed, and 
Hazo, and Pildash, and Jidlaph, and Bethuel. 

23 And Bethuel begat Rebekah : these eight did 
Milcah bear to Nahor, Abraham's brother. 



is made in John 8 : 56 : " Your father Abraham 
rejoiced to see my day ; and he saw it and was 
glad." It will be observed that our Lord does 
not say " me " or " my person," but " my day " ; 
that is, the gospel age and its great events — all 
that was to be achieved by Christ in the way of 
spiritual blessings upon all mankind. 

15. The Angel of the Lord called unto 
Abraham . . . the second time. The object 
of this second call was the renewal of the prom- 
ise to Abraham in reward for his faith and 
obedience. 

16. By myself have I sworn. This last 
promise of the Lord to Abraham, which vir- 
tually repeats all the former promises (see 12 : 3 ; 

13 : 16 ; 15 : 5 ; 17 : 1-8 ; 18 : 18), he Confirms by the 

solemnity of an oath (Heb. 6 : is, u, it). The 
stupendous benefaction which it holds out, the 
Lord bestows as the reward of the faith which 
he had first, by his gracious promise, created 
and nourished, and finally most signally proved. 
A unique prominence is given in the patriarchal 
history to this swearing of the Lord by himself, 
seeing it is the only instance of the kind which 
that history records. The remembrance of the 
oath was treasured up in the mind of all future 

generations (comp. 24 : 7 , 26 : 3 ; 50 : 24; Exod. 13 : 5, 
11 ; 33 : 1 ; Luke 1 : 73). 

20. It was told Abraham. As prepara- 
tory to the narrative of Isaac's marriage, the 
genealogy of Nahor, which was broken off at 
11 : 29, is here resumed. 

21. Huz (or, Uz) his firstborn. See on 10: 



23. The same name appears in 36 : 28 in the 
posterity of Esau. 1 

Buz his brother. Buz is mentioned in Jer. 
25 : 23 along with Dedan and Tema, and so must 
be sought in the vicinity of Edom. Elihu, 
Job's fourth adversary, was a Buzite (Jot. 32 : 2). 

Kemuel the father of Aram, "was not 
the founder of the Aram jeans, but the forefather 
of the family of Ham, to which the Buzite Elihu 
belonged — Aram being written for Ram, like 
Arammim in 2 Kings 8 : 29 for Ranimim in 2 
Chron. 22 : 5." 

22. Chesed. The Kasdim or Chaldeans are 
generally supposed to have derived their name 
from him, though it is quite uncertain whether 
he is to be considered as the ancestor of the 
whole family of the Kasdim, or of one tribe of 

the Same (see on 11 : 28). 

23. Bethuel begat Rebekah. Isaac 
therefore married the daughter of his first 
cousin. As Nahor was the elder brother of 
Abraham (see foot-note on 12 : 4), his grand- 
daughter may have been of suitable age to be 
the wife of Abraham's son. 

These eight. Nahor, like Ishmael (25 : 13- 
15) and Jacob (35 : 23-26), had twelve sons, eight 
by his wife Milcah, and four by his concubine 
(ver. 24). This agreement in the number of sons 
belonging to these three descendants of Terah 
has led to a suspicion with some of a legendary 
origin in the histories of them all — a suspicion 
rendered entirely groundless by diversity in 
several other respects. The single fact of differ- 



1 In regard to the alleged variant descent of Aram and Uz (comp. ver. 21 with 10 : 22, 23), Green re- 
marks that the apparent difficulty admits of a ready solution in one or other of two ways : (1) The same 
name may haye been borne by different peoples. Thus Asshur (10 : 22) was descended from Shem ; and 
yet Asshurim are mentioned among those that sprang from Abraham by Keturah. Or (2) tribes may be 
of mixed origin, and so are properly traceable to different lines of descent. 



Ch. XXIII. ] 



GENESIS 



161 



24 And his concubine, whose name was Reumah, 
she bare also Tebah, and Gaham, and Thahash, and 
Maachah. 



24 And hia concubine, whose name was Reumah, 
she also bare Tebah, and Gaham, and Tahash, 
and Maacah. 



CHAPTE& XXIII 



1 AND Sarah was a hundred and seven and 
twenty years old : these were the years of the life of 
Sarah. 

2 And Sarah died in Kirjath-arba ; the same is 
Hebron in the land of Canaan : and Abraham came 
to mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her. 

3 And Abraham stood up from before his dead, 
and spake unto the sons of Heth, saying, 

4 I am a stranger and a sojourner with you : give 
me a possession of a buryingplace with you, that I 
may bury my dead out of my sight. 



1 AND the life of Sarah was an hundred and 
seven and twenty years : these were the years of 

2 the life of Sarah. And Sarah died in Kiriath- 
arba (the same is Hebron), in the land of Canaan : 
and Abraham came to mourn for Sarah, and to 

3 weep for her. And Abraham rose up from be- 
fore his dead, and spake unto the children of 

4 Heth, saying, I am a stranger and a sojourner 
with you : give me a possession of a buryingplace 
with you, that I may bury my dead out of my 



ence with regard to the mothers, who were two 
for Nahor's sons, four for Jacob's, and probably 
one for Ishmael's, points to a purely historical, 
and not mythical basis for the narrative, and 
for the number twelve in these three instances. 

24. His concubine. This is the first oc- 
currence of the term, which does not in the 
original imply anything immoral or reproach- 
ful, as does the English word. With the sacred 
writers it is used to designate a lawful wife, but 
one of inferior rank, and usually of servile con- 
dition. The concubine could claim the pi*ivilege 
of a wife ; and it was no longer in the power of 
her husband to dispose of her by public sale, 
even if she had previously been his slave (see 
Exod. 21 : 7-10 ; Deut. 21:10-14). Concubinage was, 
in reality, a form of polygamy, and subversive 
thus of the original institution of marriage, and 
of the true and proper relation of the sexes set 
forth at the beginning (1 •• 27 ; 2 : u ; comp. Matt. 19 : 
4-8). In the time of Moses it appears to have 
degenerated into a regular custom, the evils of 
which his laws and regulations were intended to 
mitigate and lessen, until, under the stronger 
light and love of a more advanced dispensation, 
it should be abolished. 



Chap. 23. The Death and Burial of 
Sarah. 1. The life of Sarah was an hun- 
dred and seven and twenty years. This 
would make Isaac thirty-seven at the time of 
her death. Sarah is the only woman whose 
age, death, and burial are distinctly noted in 
Scripture. The sacred writer would thus do 
honor to her as the wife of Abraham, the 
venerrable ancestress of the Hebrew people, and 

the mother Of believers (Isa. 51 : 2 ; 1 Peter 3:6). 

2. Kirjath-arba; the same is Hebron. 

Kiriath-arba (the city of Arba) was the original 
Canaanitish name of the place afterward called 
Hebron (comp. josh. H:i5; Judg. i:io). See on 
13 : 18. 

In the land of Canaan. These words 
(repeated in ver. 19) are probably added to em- 
L 



phasize the fact that Sarah's death occurred not 
in the Philistines' country, but in the promised 
land. 

Abraham came to mourn for Sarah, 
and to weep for her. He came, as some 
think, from his own tent; or, as others, from 
the field where his flocks may have been feed- 
ing, to Sarah's tent, that there, in conformity 
with the customary usage, he might perform 
this last sad duty. Nor was it simply a desire 
to conform to custom that prompted him to the 
act. His was a genuine sorrow. 

3. And Abraham stood {rose) up ; that 
is, from the ground. Sitting on the ground was 
a custom in early times in mourning for the 
dead (Job 1 : 20; 2 : 13). He "rose up" to per- 
form the mournful rites of sepulture. This 
involved the purchase of a burial-place. 

And spake unto the sons {children) of 
Heth. Heth was the son of Canaan and grand- 
son of Ham. His descendants, who were called 
Hittites, were the lords and possessors of Hebron 
and its environs, and Abraham was now dwell- 
ing among them. See on 10 : 15. 

4. I am a stranger and a sojourner 
with you. The former term explains why he 
had no family burying-ground ; the latter, why 
he desired to purchase one. 

Give me a possession of a burying- 
place with you. This is the first mention in 
Scripture of a grave, the word in Hebrew sig- 
nifying a hole dug in the ground or hewn out of 
a rock in which the dead were buried. Tacitus 
{Hist., V., 5) notes it as characteristic of the 
Jews, that they preferred to bury their dead 
rather than to burn them. 

Although the land of Canaan had been 
promised to Abraham and his seed for a perma- 
nent possession (12 : 7 ; 13 : 15 ; 15 : 18 ; 17 : 8), and 

he had now been over sixty years a wanderer 
and sojourner therein, he possessed as yet no 
portion of the soil — not enough even for a grave 
(Acts 7:5). "Hence the stress laid in this chap- 
ter upon the purchase of the field and cave of 



162 



GENESIS 



[Ch. XXIII. 



5 And the children of Heth answered Abraham, 
saying unto him, 

6 Hear us, my lord : thou art a mighty prince 
among us : in the choice of our sepulchres bury thy 
dead ; none of us shall withhold from thee his 
sepulchre, but that thou mayest bury thy dead. 

7 And Abraham stood up, and bowed himself to 
the people of the land, even to the children of 
Heth. 

8 And he communed with them, saying, If it be 
your mind that I should bury my dead out of my 
sight, hear me, and entreat for me to Ephron the 
son of Zohar, 

9 That he may give me the cave of Machpelah, 
which he hath, which is in the end of his field ; for 
as much money as it is worth he shall give it me for 
a possession of a buryingplace amongst you. 

10 And Ephron dwelt among the children of 
Heth : and Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham 
in the audience of the children of Heth, even of all 
that went in at the gate of his city, saying, 

11 Nay, my lord, hear me: the field give I thee, 
and the cave that is therein, I give it thee ; in the 
presence of the sons of my people give I it thee : 
bury thy dead. 



5 sight. And the children of Heth answered 

6 Abraham, saying unto him, Hear us, my lord : 
thou art a mighty prince among us: in the 
choice of our sepulchres bury thy dead ; none of 
us shall withhold from thee his sepulchre, but 

7 that thou mayest bury thy dead. And Abraham 
rose up, and bowed himself to the people of the 

8 land, even to the children of Heth. And he 
communed with them, saying, If it be your 
mind that I should bury my dead out of my 
sight, hear me, and intreat for me to Ephron the 

9 son of Zohar, that he may give me the cave of 
Machpelah, which he hath, which is in the end 
of his field ; for the full price let him give it to 
me in the midst of you for a possession of a bury- 

10 ingplace. Now Ephron was sitting in the midst 
of the children of Heth : and Ephron the Hittite 
answered Abraham in the audience of the chil- 
dren of Heth, even of all that went in at the gate 

11 of his city, saying, Nay, my lord, hear me : the 
field give I thee, and the cave that is therein, I 
give it thee ; in the presence of the sons of my 



Machpelah, the first spot of ground to which he 
obtained a legal title. The securing of this 
burial-place was properly regarded as a first in- 
stalment and a pledge of the final fulfilment of 
the divine promise, and as indicative of Abra- 
ham's implicit faith in that promise. The sub- 
sequent references to it are also made with a 
formality and a studied repetition of the lan- 
guage here employed, which show how signifi- 
cant it was held to be, and how it both nurtured 
and served to give expression to the faith of the 
patriarchs, and particularly of Jacob, after he 
had removed to Egypt " (25 : 9, 10 ; 49 =.29-32 ; 50 : is).i 

6. Thou art a mighty prince among us, 
Heb., a prince of God. The name of God is 
frequently affixed to words to denote superlative 
greatness or excellence in the subject spoken of. 
Thus, Ps. 36:6, "Great mountains" (Heb. 
mountains of God) ; Ps. 53 : 10, " Goodly cedars " 
(Heb., cedars of God) ; Acts 8 : 20, (Moses) 
" was exceeding fair" (Heb., fair to God). 

This was not merely Oriental compliment. 
During his previous sojourn among them he had 
won their esteem and confidence, and Mamre 
and his brothers were glad to enter into an 
alliance with him (u : 13). The Hittites doubt- 
less both recognized his character and the great- 
ness which had enabled him to pursue and 
defeat the confederate kings. 



In the choice of our sepulchres bury 
thy dead. But Abraham's spirit of independ- 
ence, which he was bound to preserve (see 14 : 
23), would not permit him to accept as a gift a 
sepulcher from any one ; and there was some- 
thing abhorrent in the thought of Sarah or him- 
self being buried in the tomb of an idolatrous 
family. He would therefore have the Hittites 
intercede with Ephron, the son of Zohar, that he 
might sell him the cave of Machpelah for a 
burial-place. 

9. The cave of Machpelah ; that is, per- 
haps, a cave with two entrances or two compart- 
ments, from the verb 723, kaphal, to double. 2 
All the ancient versions render these words by 
"the double cave." The limestone hills of 
Palestine abound in caves, which were often 
used as places of burial. 

10-16. These verses record the transaction 
which took place between Abraham and Ephron, 
and furnish a fine picture of the extreme cour- 
tesy of the Eastern people in the transaction of 

business (comp. 2 Sain. 24 : 20-24). 

11. The field give I thee, and the cave 
that is therein. Here was a great show of 
generosity, but it was only a show. 8 By this 
offer, if accepted, Ephron would be led to ex- 
pect an equal or greater present from Abraham 
in return. Abraham understood this ; and not 



1 As Havernick suggests : " The consequence attributed in these various passages to the possession of a 
burial-place implies that the record was made prior to the actual occupation of Canaan by the Israelites, 
after which it ceased to be of special interest, and is never again referred to." 

2 M. Pierroti, an Italian architect in the service of the Sultan, has proved that it is really a double 
cave. On a special occasion he daringly pressed after the chief priest of the mosque and managed to 
descend far enough to see into the lower cavern. 

3 An Arab to-day, as in Abraham's time, gives his horse, or whatever he has to sell, to an intending 
buyer, and appeals to witnesses that he does so. But it is well known that this is only a form to help him 
raise the price in the end. "What is that between me and thee?" is still a standing phrase on such 
occasions, as it was four thousand years ago. 



Ch. XXIV.] 



GENEtelS 



163 



12 And Abraham bowed down himself before the 
people of the land. 

13 And be spake unto Ephron in the audience of 
the people of the land, saying, But if thou wilt give 
it, I pray thee, hear me : I will give thee money for 
the field ; take it of me, and I will bury my dead 
there. 

14 And Ephron answered Abraham, saying unto 
him, 

15 My lord, hearken unto me : the land is worth 
four hundred shekels of silver ; what is that betwixt 
me and thee? bury therefore thy dead. 

16 And Abraham hearkened unto Ephron ; and 
Abraham weighed to Ephron the silver, which he 
had named in the audience of the sons of Heth, 
four hundred shekels of silver, current money with 
the merchant. 

17 And the field of Ephron, which was in Mach- 
peiah, which was before Mamre, the field, and the 
cave which was therein, and all the trees that were 
in the field, that were in all the borders round 
about, were made sure 

18 Unto Abraham for a possession in the presence 
of the children of Heth, before all that went in at 
the gate of his city. 

19 And after this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife 
in the cave of the field of Machpelah before Mamre : 
the same is Hebron in the land of Canaan. 

20 And the field, and the cave that is therein, 
were made sure unto Abraham for a possession of a 
buryingplace by the sons of Heth. 



12 people give I it thee : bury thy dead. And 
Abraham bowed himself down before the people 

13 of the land. And he spake unto Ephron in the 
audience of the people of the land, saying, But 
if thou wilt, I pray thee, hear me : I will give 
the price of the field ; take it of me, and I will 

14 bury my dead there. And Ephron answered 

15 Abraham, saying unto him, My lord, hearken 
unto me : a piece of land worth four hundred 
shekels of silver, what is that betwixt me and 

16 thee? bury therefore thy dead. And Abraham 
hearkened unto Ephron ; and Abraham weighed 
to Ephron the silver, which he had named in the 
audience of the children of Heth, four hundred 
shekels of silver, current money with the mer- 

17 chant. So the field of Ephron, which was in 
Machpelah, which was before Mamre, the field, 
and the cave which was therein, and all the 
trees that were in the field, that were in all the 
border thereof round about, were made sure 

18 unto Abraham for a possession in the presence 
of the children of Heth, before all that went in 

19 at the gate of his city. And after this, Abraham 
buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of 
Machpelah before Mamre (the same is Hebron), 

20 in the land of Canaan. And the field, and the 
cave that is therein, were made sure unto Abra- 
ham for a possession of a buryingplace by the 
children of Heth. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 



1 AND Abraham was old, and well stricken in age: 
and the Lord had blessed Abraham in all things. 



1 AND Abraham was old, and well stricken in 
age : and the Lord had blessed Abraham in all 



being willing to receive the field and cave 
as a gift, or in any way to put himself under 
obligation to Ephron, he insisted on paying the 
full price for the property. 

14, 15. Ephron now names the purchase 
money. With an adroitness of speech that 
evades and at the same time complies with 
Abraham's request, he says virtually: "Why 
should friends and wealthy men like us use 
many words about a piece of land worth only 
four hundred shekels of silver ? 1 Bury thy 
dead, and thou canst pay me this trifle here- 
after." Having gotten Ephron to name his 
price, Abraham at once pays down the money 
in the presence of the witnesses, and thus se- 
cures the purchase beyond all question. 2 

16. Abraham weighed to Ephron the 
silver. Coined money was not known to the 
Hebrews before the captivity (comp. jer. 32 : 9) f 
during which they used the weights and the 
coin of other nations. It was not till the time 



of the Maccabean princes that they had a mint 
of their own (comp. Mace is : 6), and coined gold 
and silver for themselves. Probably, as De- 
litzsch observes, the ancient bars and ingots of 
gold and silver were marked with a conven- 
tional sign, showing their value. 

No other spot in the Holy Land contains so 
much precious dust as this cave of Machpelah. 3 
In it lie treasured the remains of Abraham and 
Sarah, of Isaac and Rebekah, of Leah also 
(49 : 31) } and the embalmed body of Jacob (50 : 
is). Since the Moslem rule it has not been ac- 
cessible to either Christian or Jew. 



Chap. 24. Isaac's Marriage. This 
chapter contains the earliest, and at the same 
time the fullest, marriage narrative of Scripture, 
the whole chapter — one of the longest in the 
Bible — being devoted to it. 

1. Abraham was old, and well stricken 
in age. He had now reached his one hun- 



1 About fifty pounds sterling. 

2 "Abraham," says Eichhorn, "buys the cave of Machpelah in the presence of witnesses, and counts 
upon remaining in undisturbed possession of the field, just as in Homer the Greeks and Trojans count 
assuredly upon the fulfilment of the treaty which has been concluded, because both armies were present 
at the oral agreement." 

3 From a comparison of 23 : 9-19 and Acts 7 : 16 we learn the interesting fact that Abraham purchased 
for a sum of money, and secured by a publicly attested bargain, two sites, which became burial-places. 
These were : first, that of Machpelah ; second, that of Sichem, where Joseph and his eleven brethren, the 
patriarchal twelve, were buried (see Josh. 24 : 32; Acts 7 : 16). Some have supposed that Stephen con- 
founded Abraham's purchase with that of Jacob, after his return from Mesopotomia. The fact is, Stephen 
is not speaking of the cave of Machpelah at all, but of the burial-place of Joseph and his brethren at Sichem. 
where Abraham built an altar (see 12 : 6, 7). 



164 



GENESIS 



[Ch. XXIV. 



2 And Abraham said unto his eldest servant of 
his house, that ruled over all that he had, Put, I 
pray thee, thy hand under my thigh : 

3 And I will make thee swear by the Lord, the 
God of heaven, and the God of the earth, that thou 
shalt not take a wife unto my son of the daughters 
of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell : 

4 But thou shall go unto my country, and to my 
kindred, and take a wife unto my son Isaac. 

5 And the servant said unto him, Peradventure 
the woman will not be willing to follow me unto 
this land : must I needs bring thy son again unto 
the land from whence thou earnest? 

6 And Abraham said unto him, Beware thou that 
thou bring not my son thither again. 

7 The Lord God of heaven, which took me from 
my father's house, and from the land of my kin- 
dred, and which spake unto me, and that sware 
unto me, saying, Unto thy seed will I give this 
land ; he shall send his angel before thee, and thou 
shalt take a wife unto my son from thence. 

8 And if the woman will not be willing to follow 
thee, then thou shalt be clear from this my oath : 
only bring not my son thither again. 

9 And the servant put his hand under the thigh 
of Abraham his master, and sware to him concern- 
ing that matter. 

10 And the servant took ten camels of the camels 
of his master, and departed ; for all the goods of 
his master were in his hand : and he arose, and 
went to Mesopotamia, unto the city of Nahor. 

11 And he made his camels to kneel down with- 
out the city by a well of water at the time of the 
evening, even the time that women go out to draw 
water. 



2 things. And Abraham said unto his servant, 
the elder of his house, that ruled over all that 
he had, Put, I pray thee, thy hand under my 

3 thigh : and I will make thee swear by the Lord, 
the God of heaven and the God of the earth, that 
thou shalt not take a wife for my son of the 
daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I 

4. dwell : but thou shalt go unto my country, and 
to my kindred, and take a wife for my son Isaac. 

5 And the servant said unto him, Peradventure 
the woman will not be willing to follow me unto 
this land : must I needs bring thy son again 

6 unto the land from whence thou earnest? And 
Abraham said unto him, Beware thou that thou 

7 bring not my son thither again. The Lord, the 
God of heaven, that took me from my father's 
house, and from the land of my nativity, and 
that spake unto me, and that sware unto me, 
saying, Unto thy seed will I give this land ; he 
shall send his angel before thee, and thou shalt 

8 take a wife for my son from thence. And if the 
woman be not willing to follow thee, then thou 
shalt be clear from this my oath ; only thou 

9 shalt not bring my son thither again. And the 
servant put his hand under the thigh of Abra- 
ham his master, and sware to him concerning 

10 this matter. And the servant took ten camels, 
of the camels of his master, and departed ; hav- 
ing all goodly things of his master's in his 
hand : and he arose, and went to Mesopotamia, 

11 unto the city of Nahor. And he made the 
camels to kneel down without the city by the 
well of water at the time of evening, the time 



dred and fortieth year ; three years after Sarah's 
death. 

2. His eldest servant {servant, the elder) 
of his house ; that is, his chief servant; the 
reference being probably to Eliezer, whom he 
had previously regarded as the heir of his 
property (15 : 2). Every large household had a 

Servant of this Sort (see 39 : 4 ; comp. Ps. 105 : 21). At 

a later period the office was an important one at 
court (see i Kings 4:6; isa. 22 : is). The term elder 
was applied originally to those who filled this 
office, because they were men of mature years ; 
but in course of time it became a title of official 
rank and honor, irrespective of age (see 50 -. 7 ; 

Ruth 4:2; comp. 1 Tim. 5 : 17). 

Put, I pray thee, thy hand under my 
thigh. This ancient form of adjuration is 
mentioned only here and in 47 : 29. Of the 
various explanations of this act which have 
been given, that is perhaps the most plausible 
which regards it as tantamount to an oath of 
fealty and allegiance to a superior. Thus 
Eliezer solemnly bound himself to carry out 
the promise which Abraham had required of 
him. 

4. Unto my country, and to my kin- 
dred ; that is, unto Mesopotamia, where he had 
sojourned five years after leaving Ur of the 
Chaldees, and where his brother Nahor and his 
family who followed some time after, now re- 
sided. Abraham's loyalty to the promise for- 
bade his forming an alliance by marriage with 



the powerful but idolatrous and licentious chiefs 
of Canaan. He knew that if his beloved Isaac 
and his descendants intermarried with them, 
they would be thereby corrupted, and thus dis- 
qualified for the high office and work to which 
they ha'd been appointed. 

6. Beware thou that thou bring not my 
son thither again. The suggestion is one 
which Abraham will not for a moment enter- 
tain. At God's command he had left Mesopo- 
tamia forever, and to send his son back would 
be a putting of expediency above faith, and a 
distrust of the divine promise. 

10. The servant took ten camels. These 
would be required to bear the numerous presents 
which he took with him for the future bride 
and her relatives, and serve as a means of 
transport for her and her suite on their return 
journey. By their number and necessary at- 
tendants, moreover, they would give to the 
mission a respectable appearance, and be taken 
as evidence of Abraham's wealth. 

Mesopotamia ; the Greek name for the 
Hebrew Aram-Naharayim ; that is, Aram of the 
two rivers, namely, the region lying between 
the rivers Euphrates and Tigris. 

The city of Nahor ; that is, Haran, where 
Nahor, Abraham's brother, dwelt (see on n .- si ; 

comp. 27 : 43; Acts 7:2). 

11. The time of evening . . . the time 
that women go out to draw water. "It 

is the work of females in the East to draw water 



Ch. XXIV.] 



GENESIS 



165 



12 And he said, Lord God of my master Abra- 
ham, I pray thee, send me good speed this day, and 
shew kindness unto my master Abraham. 

13 Behold, I stand here by the well of water ; and 
the daughters of the men of the city come out to 
draw water : 

14 And let it come to pass, that the damsel to 
whom I shall say, Let down thy pitcher, I pray 
thee, that I may drink ; and she shall say, Drink, 
and I will give thy camels drink also: let the same 
be she that thou hast appointed for thy servant Isaac ; 
and thereby shall I know that thou hast shewed 
kindness unto my master. 

15 And it came to pass, before he had done speak- 
ing, that, behold, Rebekah came out, who was 
born toBethuel, son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, 
Abraham's brother, with her pitcher upon her 
shoulder. 

16 And the damsel was very fair to look upon, a 
virgin, neither had any man known her : and she 
went down to the well, and filled her pitcher, and 
came up. 

17 And the servant ran to meet her, and said, Let 
me, I pray thee, drink a little water of thy pitcher. 

18 And she said, Drink, my lord : and she hasted, 
and let down her pitcher upon her hand, and gave 
him drink. 

19 And when she had done giving him drink, she ! 
said, I will draw water for thy camels also, until 
they have done drinking. 

2,0 And she hasted, and emptied her pitcher into 
the trough, and ran again unto the well to draw 
water, and drew for all his camels. 

21 And the man wondering at her held his peace, 
to wit whether the Lord had made his journey 
prosperous or not. 

22 And it came to pass, as the camels had done 
drinking, that the man took a golden earring of 
half a shekel weight, and two bracelets for her 
hands of ten shekels weight of gold ; 

23 And said, Whose daughter art thou? tell me, I 
pray thee : is there room in thy father's house for 
us to lodge in ? 



12 that women go out to draw water. And he said, 
O Lord, the God of my master Abraham, send 
me, I pray thee, good speed this day, and shew 

13 kindness unto my master Abraham. Behold, I 
stand by the fountain of water ; and the daugh- 
ters of the men of the city come out to draw 

14 water : and let it come to pass, that the damsel 
to whom I shall say, Let down thy pitcher, I 
pray thee, that I may drink ; and she shall say, 
Drink, and I will give thy camels drink also: 
let the same be she that thou hast appointed for 
thy servant Isaac: and thereby shall I know 
that thou hast shewed kindness unto my master. 

15 And it came to pass, before he had done speak- 
ing, that, behold, Rebekah came out, who was 
born to Bethuel the son of Milcah, the wife of 
Nahor, Abraham's brother, with her pitcher 

16 upon her shoulder. And the damsel was very 
fair to look upon, a virgin, neither had any man 
known her : and she went down to the fountain, 

17 and filled her pitcher, and came up. And 
the servant ran to meet her, and said, Give me 
to drink, I pray thee, a little water of thy 

18 pitcher. And she said, Drink, my lord: and 
she hasted, and let down her pitcher upon her 

19 hand, and gave him drink. And when she had 
done giving him drink, she said, I will draw for 
thy camels also, until they have done drinking. 

20 And she hasted, and emptied her pitcher into 
the trough, and ran again unto the well to draw, 

21 and drew for all his camels. And the man 
looked steadfastly on her; holding his peace, to 
know whether the Lord had made his journey 

22 prosperous or not. And it came to pass, as the 
camels had done drinking, that the man took a 
golden ring of half a shekel weight, and two 
bracelets for her hands of ten shekels weight of 

23 gold; and said, Whose daughter art thou? tell 
me, I pray thee. Is there room in thy father's 



both morning and evening; and they may be 
seen going in groups to the wells with their 
vessels on the hip or on the shoulder.' , The 
daughters even of sheiks were wont to perform 
this duty for their fathers' flocks and herds (see 
Exod. 2 : 16). Ver. 13 shows that, in this instance, 
those going out to draw water were not servants, 
or persons of inferior rank (comp. 29 : 2-10). 
Eliezer knew, therefore, that the young women 
whom he should meet at the well would include 
the very class from which his choice was to be 
made. 

14. The damsel. With one exception 
(Deut. 22 : 19) the word here used for damsel, *IJ£J, 
inaar, is of common gender in the Pentateuch, 
signifying a young person of either sex. In the 
later books the distinction of gender is indicated 
by the feminine affix when a girl is intended. 
This is important as showing, first, the antiquity 
of the Pentateuch generally, and secondly, 
the antiquity of this markedly Jehovistic chap- 
ter. As appearing here the word tells against 
the position of those who assign a modern date 
(the time of Samuel— say) to these Jehovistic 
chapters. 

Let down thy pitcher ; better, incline thy 



pitcher. " He would not trouble her to let down 
the vessel upon her hand, but would drink from 
it as she leaned it forward upon her shoulder." 

Let the same be she that thou hast 
appointed. The sign for which the servant 
prays is the readiness of the maiden from whom 
he shall ask a drink of water, not only to grant 
his request, but also generously to exceed it in 
her readiness to serve him. 

17. Let me, I pray thee, drink (sip) 
a little water of thy pitcher. He modestly 
asks for only a swallow of water. She graciously 
complies with his request by permitting him 
not simply to sip from her pitcher while it yet 
rested on her shoulder, but to drink fully from 
it as presented to him on her hand ; and then, 
with winning sweetness she offers to draw for 
his camels also. 

This was the very sign the steward had ap- 
pointed. The conditions which he had stipu- 
lated in his prayer (ver. 14) were fully met ; still, 
it remained to be determined whether she be- 
longed to Terah's family, and would follow him 
to Canaan — which he proceeds to ascertain. 

23. Whose daughter art thou? Tell 
me, I pray thee. Having learned from the 



166 



GENESIS 



[Ch. XXIV. 



24 And she said unto him, I am the daughter of 
Bethuel the sou of Milcah, which she bare unto 
Nahor. 

25 She said moreover unto him, We have both 
straw and provender enough, and room to lodge in. 

26 And the man bowed down his head, and 
worshipped the Lord. 

27 And he said, Blessed be the Lord God of my 
master Abraham, who hath not left destitute my 
master of his mercy and his truth : I being in the 
way, the Lord led me to the house of my master's 
brethren. 

28 And the damsel ran, and told them of her 
mother's house these things. 

29 And Bebekah had a brother, and his name 
was Laban : and Laban ran out unto the man, unto 
the well. 

30 And it came to pass, when he saw the earring, 
and bracelets upon his sister's hands, and when he 
heard the words of Bebekah his sister, saying, Thus 
spake the man unto me, that he came unto the 
man ; and, behold, he stood by the camels at the 
well. 

31 And he said, Come in, thou blessed of the 
Lord; wherefore standest thou without? for I 
have prepared the house, and room for the camels. 

32 And the man came into the house: and he 
ungirded his camels, and gave straw and provender 
for the camels, and water to wash his feet, and the 
men's feet that were with him. 



24 house for us to lodge in? And she said unto 
him, I am the daughter of Bethuel the son of 

25 Milcah, which she bare unto Nahor. She said 
moreover unto him, We have both straw 
and provender enough, and room to lodge in. 

26 And the man bowed his head, and worshipped 

27 the Lord. And he said, Blessed be the Lord. 
the God of my master Abraham, who hath not 
forsaken his mercy and his truth toward my 
master : as for me, the Lord hath led me in the 

28 way to the house of my master's brethren. And 
the damsel ran, and told her mother's house ac- 

29 cording to these words. And Bebekah had a 
brother, and his name was Laban : and Laban 

30 ran out unto the man, unto the fountain. And 
it came to pass, when he saw the ring, and the 
bracelets upon his sister's hands, and when he 
heard the words of Bebekah his sister, saying, 
Thus spake the man unto me ; that he came 
unto the man; and, behold, he stood by the 

31 camels at the fountain. And he said, Come in, 
thou blessed of the Lord; wherefore standest 
thou without? for I have prepared the house, 

32 and room for the camels. And the man came 
into the house, and he ungirded the camels; 
and he gave straw and provender for the camels, 
and water to wash his feet and the men's feet 



damsel that she was the daughter of Bethuel, 
and the granddaughter of Abraham's brother 
(22 : 22, 23) ? he put a golden ring upon her nose, 
and bracelets upon her hands (ver. 4t). He pre- 
sented her with these ornaments, not as bridal 
gifts — these according to ver. 53 were more 
numerous and costly, and could not be given 
till the consent of Laban and Bethuel had been 
obtained — but as a reward for her friendly serv- 
ice. The Hebrew word DTJ, nezem, which de- 
notes both an earring and a nose-ring, must 
here be taken in the latter sense. Nose-orna- 
ments are extensively worn among the Arabian 
and other females of the East. The most highly 
prized ornaments among Oriental ladies are 
bracelets. Not unfrequently the whole arm, 
from the wrist to the elbow, is covered with 
them. 

When Eliezer, in answer to his second ques- 
tion (ver. 23) f bad learned from Bebekah that 
there was room in her father's house to lodge 
in, and abundant "straw and provender" for 
the camels (ver. 25) f he "bowed his head and 
worshipped the Lord" (ver. 26) ; while she, hav- 
ing given this assurance, hastened home to re- 
late to the house of her mother — that is, to the 
female portion of the family — all that had oc- 
curred (ver. 28). 

29. And Laban ran out unto the man, 
unto the well, fountain. Laban's haste to 
welcome the stranger was quickened by the 
sight of the ornaments upon his sister (ver. 30). 
That he had an open eye to the chance for en- 
riching himself, and would not scruple to em- 
ploy even fraudulent methods for this purpose, 



appears from the more complete portrayal of 
his character in chap. 29-31. 

It is observable here that Laban and not 
Bethuel goes out to welcome Eliezer to the 
home. Indeed, in the entire narrative more 
prominence is given to him than to his father 
or mother. He is named before his father in 
ver. 50, and before his mother in ver. 55; 
and in 29 : 5 he is called, not the son of Beth- 
uel, but of Nahor, the name of his father 
being omitted. This has its explanation in part, 
probably, in the prominent place which he was 
to fill in the succeeding history of Jacob, but 
principally in the fact that brothers were ac- 
customed to exercise great influence in the 
matter of disposing of their sisters, and to act 
conjointly with their fathers in relation to their 
proposed marriage (see 34 : 11, 25 ; Judg. 24 : 22). 

31. Come in, thou blessed of the Loud. 
Laban, though an idolater (si : so), here ac- 
knowledges the true God (comp. ver. 50). Possibly 
from courtesy he may have thus addressed 
Eliezer, using for God the same name which 
the latter had applied to his master's God 

(ver. 27). 

32. And he ungirded his (the) camels ; 
that is, Laban ungirded them. It would have 
been contrary to the rules of Eastern hospi- 
tality to allow Eliezer to unsaddle his own 
camels. 

The men's feet that were with him. 
It comes out here in an incidental way that 
Abraham's steward had a retinue of servants 
with him. This might be inferred from the 
number of camels that were taken. 



Ch. XXIV.] 



GENESIS 



167 



33 And there was set meat before him to eat : but 
he said, I will not eat, until I have told mine 
errand. And he said, Speak on. 

34 And he said, I am Abraham's servant. 

35 And the Lord hath blessed my master greatly, 
and he is become great: and he hath given him 
flocks, and herds, and silver, and gold, and men- 
servants, and maidservants, and camels, and asses. 

36 And Sarah my master's wife bare a son to my 
master when she was old : and unto him hath he 
given all that he hath. 

37 And my master made me swear, saying, Thou 
shalt not take a wife to my son of the daughters of 
the Canaanites, in whose land I dwell : 

38 But thou shalt go unto my father's house, and 
to my kindred, and take a wife unto my son. 

39 And I said unto my master, Perad venture the 
Avoman will not follow me. 

40 And he said unto me, The Lord, before whom 
I walk, will send his angel with thee, and prosper 
thy way ; and thou shalt take a wife for my son of 
my kindred, and of my father's house : 

41 Then shalt thou be clear from this my oath, 
when thou comest to my kindred ; and if they give 
not thee one, thou shalt be clear from my oath. 

42 And I came this day unto the well, and said, 

Lord God of my master Abraham, if now thou 
do prosper my way which I go : 

43 Behold, I stand by the well of water ; and it 
shall come to pass, that when the virgin cometh 
forth to draw water, and I say to her, Give me, I 
pray thee, a little water of thy pitcher to drink ; 

44 And she say to me, Both drink thou, and I 
will also draw for thy camels: let the same be the 
woman whom the Lord hath appointed out for my 
master's son. 

45 And before I had done speaking in mine heart, 
behold, Rebekah came forth with her pitcher on 
her shoulder; and she went down unto the well, 
and drew water : and I said unto her, Let me drink, 

1 pray thee. 

46 And she made haste, and let down her pitcher 
from her shoulder, and said, Drink, and I will give 
thy camels drink also : so I drank, and she made 
the camels drink also. 

47 And I asked her, and said, Whose daughter art 
thou? And she said, The daughter of Bethuel, 
Nahor's son, whom Milcah bare unto him : and I 
put the earring upon her face, and the bracelets 
upon her hands. 

48 And I bowed down my head, and worshipped 
the Lord, and blessed the Lord God of my master 
Abraham, which had led me in the right way to 
take my master's brother's daughter unto his son. 

49 And now, if ye will deal kindly and truly with 
my master, tell me : and if not, tell me ; that I may 
turn to the right hand, or to the left. 

50 Then Labau and Bethuel answered and said, 
The thing proceedeth from the Lord : we cannot 
speak unto thee bad or good. 

51 Behold, Rebekah is before thee ; take her, and 
go, and let her be thy master's son's wife, as the 
Lord hath spoken. 



33 that were with him. And there was set meat 
before him to eat : but he said, I will not eat, 
until I have told my errand. And he said, 

34 Speak on. And he said, I am Abraham's serv- 

35 ant. And the Lord hath blessed my master 
greatly ; and he is become great : and he hath 
given him flocks and herds, and silver and gold, 
and menservants and maidservants, and camels 

36 and asses. And Sarah my master's wife bare a 
son to my master when she was old : and unto 

37 him hath he given all that he hath. And my 
master made me swear, saying, Thou shalt not 
take a wife for my son of the daughters of the 

38 Canaanites, in whose land I dwell: but thou 
shalt go unto my father's house, and to my 

39 kindred, and take a wife for my son. And I 
said unto my master, Peradventure the woman 

40 will not follow me. And he said unto me, The 
Lord, before whom I walk, will send his angel 
with thee, and prosper thy way ; and thou shalt 
take a wife for my son of my kindred, and of 

41 my father's house: then shalt thou be clear 
from my oath, when thou comest to my kin- 
dred; and if they give her not to thee, thou 

42 shalt be clear from my oath. And I came this 
day unto the fountain, and said, Lord, the 
God of my master Abraham, if now thou do 

43 prosper my way which I go : behold, I stand 
by the fountain of water; and let it come to 
pass, that the maiden which cometh forth to 
draw, to whom I shall say, Give me, I pray thee, 

44 a little water of thy pitcher to drink; and she 
shall say to me, Both drink thou, and I will also 
draw for thy camels : let the same be the woman 
whom the Lord hath appointed for my master's 

45 son. And before I had done speaking in mine 
heart, behold, Rebekah came forth with her 
pitcher on her shoulder; and she went down 
unto the fountain, and drew : and I said unto 

46 her, Let me drink, I pray thee. And she made 
haste, and let down her pitcher from her 
shoulder, and said, Drink, and I will give thy 
camels drink also : so I drank, and she made the 

47 camels drink also. And I asked her, and said, 
Whose daughter art thou? And she said, The 
daughter of Bethuel, Nahor's son, whom Milcah 
bare unto him : and I put the ring upon her 

48 nose, and the bracelets upon her hands. And 
I bowed my head, and worshipped the Lord, 
and blessed the Lord, the God of my master 
Abraham, which had led me in the right way to 
take my master's brother's daughter for his son. 

49 And now if ye will deal kindly and truly with 
my master, tell me : and if not, tell me ; that 
I may turn to the right hand, or to the left. 

50 Then Laban and Bethuel answered and said, 
The thing proceedeth from the Lord : we can- 

51 not speak unto thee bad or good. Behold, Re- 
bekah is before thee, take her, and go, and let 
her be thy master's son's wife, as the Lord hath 



33. I will not eat, until I have told 
mine errand. Before partaking of the friend- 
ly meal, the faithful servant would ascertain 
whether he was to be successful in his suit. Up 
to this time, from politeness, he has not been 
asked either respecting himself or his master. 
Now, however, he circumstantially tells his 
story from beginning to end, and concludes 
with the business-like request to know whether 
he might have Rebekah for his master's son: 
" And now if ye will deal kindly and truly with 
my master, tell me : and if not, tell me ; that 
I may turn to the right hand, or to the left." 



51. Behold, Rebekah is before thee ; 
take her, and go. Laban and Bethuel, per- 
ceiving that the thing proceeded from the Lord, 
at once consented to let Rebekah become Isaac's 
wife. That the consent of the maiden was not 
asked, was according to Oriental custom in re- 
gard to the disposal of women by marriage; 
though here it might be assumed that Rebekah, 
no more than her brother and father, would re- 
sist the clearly revealed will of the Lord. 

As soon as the pious steward received the 
favorable answer, " he bowed himself to the 
earth " (ver. 62) and devoutly thanked the Lord 



168 



GENESIS 



[Ch. XXIV, 



52 And it catne to pass, that, when Abraham's 
servant heard their words, he worshipped the 
Lord, bowing himself to the earth. 

53 And the servant brought forth jewels of silver, 
and jewels of gold, and raiment, and gave them to 
Rebekah : he gave also to her brother and to her 
mother precious things. 

54 And they did eat and drink, he and the men 
that were with him, and tarried all night ; and they 
rose up in the morning, and he said, Send me away 
unto my master. 

55 And her brother and her mother said, Let the 
damsel abide with us a few days, at the least ten ; 
after that she shall go. 

56 And he said unto them, Hinder me not, seeing 
the Lord hath prospered my way ; send me away 
that I may go to my master. 

57 And they said, We will call the damsel, and 
inquire at her mouth. 

58 And they called Rebekah, and said unto her, 
Wilt thou go with this man? And she said, I will 
go. 

59 And they sent away Rebekah their sister, and 
her nurse, and Abraham's servant, and his men. 

60 And they blessed Rebekah, and said unto her, 
Thou art our sister ; be thou the mother of thousands 
of millions, and let thy seed possess the gate of 
those which hate them. 

61 And Rebekah arose, and her damsels, and 
they rode upon the camels, and followed the man : 
and the servant took Rebekah, and went his way. 

62 And Isaac came from the way of the well La- 
hai-roi ; for he dwelt in the south country. 

63 And Isaac went out to meditate in the field at 
the eventide : and he lifted up his eyes, and saw, 
and, behold, the camels were coming. 

64 And Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she 
saw Isaac, she lighted off the camel. 

65 For she had said unto the servant, What man 
is this that walketh in the field to meet us? And 
the servant had said, It is my master : therefore she 
took a vail, and covered herself. 



52 "spoken. And it came to pass, that, when Abra- 

ham's servant heard their words, he bowed him- 

53 self down to the earth unto the Lord. And the 
servant brought forth jewels of silver, and jewels 
of gold, and raiment, and gave them to Re- 
bekah: he gave also to her brother and to her 

54 mother precious things. And they did eat and 
drink, he and the men that were with him, and 
tarried all night ; and they rose up in the morn- 
ing, and he said, Send me away unto my master. 

55 And her brother and her mother said, Let the 
damsel abide with us a few days, at the least 

56 ten ; after that she shall go. And he said unto 
them, Hinder me not, seeing the Lord hath 
prospered my way ; send me away that I may 

57 go to my master. And they said, We will call 

58 the damsel, and inquire at her mouth. And 
they called Rebekah, and said unto her, Wilt 
thou go with this man? And she said, I will go. 

59 And they sent away Rebekah their sister, and 
her nurse, and Abraham's servant, and his men. 

60 And they blessed Rebekah, and said unto her, 
Our sister, be thou the mother of thousands of ten 
thousands, and let thy seed possess the gate of 

61 those which hate them. And Rebekah arose, 
and her damsels, and they rode upon the camels, 
and followed the man : and the servant took 

62 Rebekah, and went his way. And Isaac came 
from the way of Beer-lahai-roi ; for he dwelt in 

63 the land of the South. And Isaac went out to 
meditate in the field at the eventide: and he 
lifted up his eyes, and saw, and, behold, there 

64 were camels coming. And Rebekah lifted up 
her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she lighted off 

65 the camel. And she said unto the servant, 
What man is this that walketh in the field to 
meet us? And the servant said, It is my mas- 
ter : and she took her veil, and covered herself. 



for having thus prospered his way (ver. 66). 
Then, opening his treasury, he "brought forth 
jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment, 
and gave them to Rebekah : he gave also to her 
brother and to her mother precious things." 
The former were the usual bridal presents to the 
bride ; the latter probably the dowry commonly 
given for a daughter. 

55. Let the damsel abide with us a 
few days, at the least ten. It was only 
natural that the relatives of Rebekah should 
wish to have her with them a few days longer. 
Indeed, it was the custom to allow a certain 
time to elapse between the betrothal and the 
marriage. The steward, however, could not 
think of keeping the good news from his vener- 
able master a moment longer than was neces- 
sary, and persisted in his request to be allowed 
to depart (ver. 56). Rebekah was called, and on 
being asked whether she was willing to go (im- 
mediately) with the man, replied, apparently 
without a moment's hesitation: "I will go" 

(ver. 58). 

59. Their sister. Only one brother is 
mentioned, namely, Laban; but those here 
represented as saying: "Our sister" (ver. 60), 
were Rebekah's relatives generally, sister, like 



brother, being a general name for near rela- 
tions. 

Her nurse ; that is, Deborah, whose death, 
at an advanced age, is recorded in 35 : 8. In 
Eastern countries nurses are accustomed to ac- 
company ladies of distinction, and are held in 
great esteem by them. 

61. And her damsels. It thus appears 
that Rebekah had other female attendants than 
her nurse. 

63. Isaac went out to meditate. This 
was in accordance with his quiet and contem- 
plative character. "In this hour of his grave 
reflection comes his destined bride with her 
faithful escort upon his view." 

64. She lighted off the camel. It would 
have been a breach of Oriental etiquette to be 
presented to Isaac seated on the camel. Indeed, 
in many parts of the East the custom still pre- 
vails for women, when riding and meeting a 
strange man, to alight from their animals as a 
mark of respect. So men also, on meeting a 
superior, will alight and lead their animals till 
they have passed him. 

65. She took a vail (lit., the veil), and 
covered herself. Even at this early period 
it was not the custom for the bride to permit 



Ck. XXV.] 



GENESIS 



169 



66 And the servant told Isaac all things that he 
had done. 

67 And Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah's 
tent, and took Rebekah, and she became his wife ; 
and he loved her : and Isaac was comforted after 
his mother's death. 



66 And the servant told Isaac all the things that 

67 he had done. And Isaac brought her into his 
mother Sarah's tent, and took Rebekah, and she 
became his wife; and he loved her: and Isaac 
was comforted after his mother's death. 



CHAPTER XXV. 



1 THEN again Abraham took a wife, and her 
name was Keturah. 

2 And she bare him Zimrau, and Jokshan, and 
Medan, and Midian, and Ishbak, and Shuah. 

3 And Jokshan begat Sheba, and Dedan. And 



1 AND Abraham took another wife, and her 

2 name was Keturah. And she bare him Zimran, 
and Jokshan, and Medan, and Midian, and Ish- 

3 bak, and Shuah. And Jokshan begat Sheba, 
and Dedan. And the sons of Dedan were As- 



the bridegroom to see her face before marriage. 
The term *)"¥¥, isa wh, here employed denotes 
the outdoor mantle-like veil, which not only- 
covers the face, but enwraps nearly the whole 
body. It was through the use of this veil that 
Laban was able to practise upon Jacob the de- 
ception of substituting Leah for Eachel (see 

29 : 25). 

Isaac brought Rebekah into the tent formerly 
occupied by his mother, "and she (thus) be- 
came his wife ; and he loved her " ; and he was 
consoled for his mother's death, which had 
taken place three years before. 



Chap. 25. Abraham's Descendants by 
Keturah, and his Death. 1. Then 
again Abraham took a wife, or, And 

Abraham took another wife. Many commen- 
tators, supposing that Keturah became the wife 
of Abraham and the mother of the six sons 
mentioned in ver. 2 while Sarah yet lived, 
render : ' ' And Abraham had taken another 
wife." In support of this view they urge: 
(1) That Keturah is called Abraham's concu- 
bine, $X2'B, pilegesh, in 1 Chron. 1 : 32 (comp. 
ver. 6) , which is thought to imply that the proper 
wife was still living ; (2) that on account of his 
advanced age, the power of begetting children 
could not have belonged to Abraham after 
Sarah's death, at which time he was a hundred 
and forty-seven years old ; and (3) that sons 
born to him after her death would not have 
been sufficiently mature to be sent away with 
gifts during his own lifetime. To which, as 
refuting this view and justifying the common 
rendering, it is replied: (1) That it by no 
means follows from the application of the term 
concubine to Keturah, that she became Abra- 
ham's wife while Sarah yet lived. There was 
nothing against her taking the rank and desig- 
nation of a concubine or secondary wife after 
Sarah's death. Abraham was not bound to give 
her the rank of the mother of the promised 
seed, though the latter was dead. And "his 
abstinence from any concubine until Sarah gave 
him Hagar is against his taking any other dur- 



ing Sarah's lifetime " ; (2) That in any case these 
sons were born to Abraham after the birth of 
Isaac, after which the renewal of his vital 
powers may have been continued to him. " It 
is easier to suppose that his physical vigor re- 
mained for some years after Sarah's death than 
that, with his former experience of concubinage 
and his parental joy in the birth of Isaac, he 
should add a second wife while Sarah lived"; 
(3) that the sons of Keturah may have been 
born to him twenty-five or thirty years before 
his death (for he survived Sarah forty-eight 
years), which would make the youngest of them 
sufficiently old to be sent away during his life- 
time. On the whole, the reasons for placing 
Abraham's marriage to Keturah after Sarah's 
death seem to outweigh those for placing it 
before. It appears to be narrated here in the 
order of time. 

2. Zimran ; the ancestor probably of the 
Zamereni, a tribe in the interior of Africa, 
though some discover the name in the Zabram 
of Ptolemy, a town between Mecca and Medina. 
Jokshan is identified by Knobel with the Cas- 
sanitce on the Red Sea (Ptoi., vi., r, 6); by Keil with 
the Himjaric tribe JaMsh, in southern Arabia. 

Medan, and Midian. Each of these was 
the ancestor of a distinct tribe; but the two 
tribes, probably from dwelling near each other, 
seem to have soon become merged into one, 
which explains why they — the same people — 
are called (in Heb.) Midianites in 37 : 28 and 
Medanites in 37 : 36. 

Ishbak. This name is possibly preserved 
in Schobeck, a place in Idumea. Fried. De- 
litzsch identifies it with Jasbuq, mentioned in 
the cuneiform inscriptions. 

Shuah was the tribe to which Bildad, the 
friend of Job, belonged, and hence must be 
looked for near Uz (see 10 : 23). In Job 2 : 11 he 
is called "the Shuhite." 

3. Sheba; probably the Sabseans, men- 
tioned in Job 6 : 19 in connection with Tema, 
and in Job 1 : 15 as the plunderers of Job's 
oxen and asses. 

Dedan is named in Jer. 25 : 23 in connec- 



170 



GENESIS 



[Ch. XXV. 



the sons of Dedan were Asshurim, and Letushirn, 
and Leurmnirn. 

4 And the sons of Midian ; Ephah, and Epher, 
and Hanoch, and Abidah, and Eldaah. All these 
were the children of Keturah. 

5 And Abraham gave all that he had unto Isaac. 

6 But unto the sons of the concubines, which 
Abraham had, Abraham gave gifts, and sent them 
away from Isaac his son, while he yet lived, east- 
ward, unto the east country. 

7 And these are the days of the years of Abra- 
ham's life which he lived, a hundred threescore 
and fifteen years. 

8 Then Abraham gave up the ghost, and died in 
a good old age, an old man, and full of years; and 
was gathered to his people. 

9 And his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in 
the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron the 
son of Zohar the Hittite, which is before Mamre ; 

10 The field which Abraham purchased of the 
sons of Heth : there was Abraham buried, and 
Sarah his wife. 

11 And it came to pass after the death of Abra- 
ham, that God blessed his son Isaac ; and Isaac 
dwelt by the well Lahai-roi. 

12 Now these are the generations of Ishmael, 
Abraham's son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah's 
handmaid, bare unto Abraham : 



I 4 shurim, and Letushim, and Leummim. And 
the sous of Midian ; Ephah, and Epher, and 
Hanoch, and Abida, and Eldaah. All these 

5 were the children of Keturah. And Abraham 

6 gave all that he had unto Isaac. But unto 
the sons of the concubines, which Abraham 
had, Abraham gave gifts ; and he sent them 
away from Isaac his son, while he yet lived. 

7 eastward, unto the east country. And these are 
the days of the years of Abraham's life which he 
lived, an hundred threescore and fifteen years. 

8 And Abraham gave up the ghost, and died in a 
good old age, an old man, and full of years ; and 

9 was gathered to his people. And Isaac and Ish- 
mael his sons buried him in the cave of Machpe- 
lah, in the field of Ephron the son of Zohar the 

10 Hittite, Avhich is before Mamre ; the field which 
Abraham purchased of the children of Heth : 
there was Abraham buried, and Sarah his wife. 

11 And it came to pass after the death of Abraham, 
that God blessed Isaac his son ; and Isaac dwelt 
by Beer-lahai-roi. 

12 Now these are the generations of Ishmael, 
Abraham's son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, 



tion with Tema and Buz as a conquering people. 
In 10 : 7 Sheba and Dedan are named among 
the descendants of Cush. 1 The Cushite Dedan 
is probably referred to in Ezek. 27 : 15, and the 
Shemite Dedan in Ezek. 27 : 20, as bringing 
their respective articles of merchandise to Tyre. 

4. Ephah is mentioned again in Isa. 60 : 6 
along with Midian as rich in camels, and as 
bringing gold and incense from Sheba. 

5, 6. Abraham gave all that he had 
unto Isaac. Not absolutely all, for it is im- 
mediately added that he " gave gifts " to his 
other sons. He gave the principal part of his 
possessions to Isaac — constituted him his chief 
heir, according to the divine purpose as declared 
in 15 : 4 ; 17 : 8 ; 24 : 36. For the preservation 
of peace among his sons, Abraham made this 
distribution of his property in his lifetime. 

8. Was gathered to his people. These 
words have essentially the meaning of "going 
to his fathers" (i5 : 15) j " lying down with his 
fathers " (« : 30), and " gathered to their fathers " 
( judg. 2 : 10) . They are not spoken of his burial, 
which is mentioned afterward (ver. 9) ; nor do 
they mean that his remains were deposited in 
the same tomb with those of his people — the 
dust of his fathers reposed hundreds of miles 
away. The ancient Hebrews believed in the 
blessed state of the pious dead, and employed 
this expi*ession to describe the departure of the 
righteous. The death of the three great patri- 
archs (comp. 35:29; 49 : 29), and of Moses (Num. 



87 : 35 ; Deut. 32 : 50) and Aaron (Num. 20 : 24) is thus 

set forth. All these were "gathered to their 
people" in the sense of joining their company 
in the spirit world, the abode of the blessed. 
Jacob, who believed his son Joseph was de- 
voured by wild beasts, said: "I will go down 
unto the grave, ViKt^, sheol (the unseen world), 
unto my son" (37:35). So David, sorrowful 
over the death of his child, got comfort from 
the reflection that he should not be parted from 
him forever: "I shall go to him, but he shall 
not return to me " ; that is, I shall go not 
merely to the place where the child is, but to 
the child himself (see on 15 : 15). 

9. Isaac and Ishmael his sons buried 
him. The return of Ishmael from the desert, 
to join with Isaac in paying the last debt of love 
to their father, shows that any feeling of resent- 
ment which he may have been harboring against 
his brother, was now laid aside. The recon- 
ciliation of children has often taken place at 
the graves of parents (comp. 35 : 29). 

11. Isaac dwelt by Beer-lahai-roi. 
This place, memorable by Hagar's vision ( 16 : u) , 
became Isaac's fixed abode after the death of 
his father. 

The Descendants, and Death, of Ish- 
mael. 12-18. Before proceeding with the 
main current of the line of Isaac, the sacred 
writer gives a brief account of the descendants 
of Ishmael in order to show the actual fulfil- 
ment of the promise God had made to Abraham 



1 This is a fresh indication of the blending of these roving tribes, of which we have already seen 
evidence in the occurrence of the same tribal name in different genealogies, e. g., Sheba and Dedan (25 : 
3 and 10 : 7, 28), and which is further evidenced by the interchange of different tribal names in applica- 
tion to the same parties (Gen. 37 : 28 ; Judg. 8 : 1, 12, 24). Green, Unity of Genesis, p. 303. 



Ch. XXV.] 



GENESIS 



171 



13 And these are the names of the sons of Ish- 
mael, by their names, according to their genera- 
tions : the firstborn of Ishmael, Nebajoth ; and 
Kedar, and Adbeel, and Mibsam, 

14 And Mishma, and Dumah, and Massa, 

15 Hadar, and Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kede- 
mah : 

16 These are the sons of Ishmael, and these are 
their names, by their towns, and by their castles; 
twelve princes according to their nations. 

17 And these are the years of the life of Ishmael, 
a hundred and thirty and seven years : and he 
gave up the ghost and died, and was gathered unto 
his people. 

18 And they dwelt from Havilah unto Shur, that 
is before Egypt, as thou goest toward Assyria : and 
he died in the presence of all his brethren. 

19 And these are the generations of Isaac, Abra- 
ham's son : Abraham begat Isaac : 



13 Sarah's handmaid, bare unto Abraham : and 
these are the names of the sons of Ishmael, by 
their names, according to their generations : the 
firstborn of Ishmael, Nebaioth ; and Kedar, and 

14 Adbeel, and Mibsam, and Mishma, and Dumah, 

15 and Massa ; Hadad, and Tema, Jetur, Naphish, 

16 and Kedemah : these are the sons of Ishmael, 
and these are their names, by their villages, and 
by their encampments ; twelve princes accord- 

17 ing to their nations. And these are the years of 
the life of Ishmael, an hundred and thirty and 
seven years : and he gave up the ghost and 

18 died ; and was gathered unto his people. And 
they dwelt from Havilah unto Shur that is be- 
fore Egypt, as thou goest toward Assyria: he 
abode in the presence of all his brethren. 

19 And these are the generations of Isaac, Abra- 



concerning him (see it : 20). In ver. 13, 14, 15 
are recorded the names of the twelve princes 
from whom descended the twelve nations or 
tribes which constituted the chief population 
of the Arabian peninsula. 

1»3. Nebajoth; or, Nebaioth, ancestor of 
the Nabatheans, the best-known and most im- 
portant of the descendants of Ishmael. In Isa. 
60 : 7 they are mentioned with Kedar, and the 
two names are found together on the Assyrian 
inscriptions of Assurbanipal. They inhabited 
Arabia Petrsea, and built their capital (Petra) 
in the rockiest part of the chain of Mount Seir, 
making it almost impregnable. Esau (28 : 9) 
married Mahalath (called, 36 : 3, Basemath) 
the sister of Nebaioth. 

Kedar ; identical probably with the Kedrei 
of Pliny (5 : 12). They had their abode in the 
northwestern part of the peninsula of Arabia, 
and near the borders of Palestine. See allu- 
sions to "the glory of Kedar," "the archers, 
the mighty men of the children of Kedar" (isa. 
21 : 16. 17) ; to "the princes of Kedar" (Ezek. 21 ■. 
21) ; to " the villages that Kedar doth inhabit" 
(isa. « : 11) ; to " the tents of Kedar " (ps. 120 : 6 ; 

Cant. 1:5). 

Adbeel is identified by Fried. Delitzsch 
with the north Arabian tribe of Idiba'il. Of 
Mibsam and Mishma nothing certain is 
known. The names occur together also in the 
genealogy of the tribe of Simeon (1 chron. 4 •. 25). 

14. Dumah. This name is perpetuated in 
the modern Dumat el Jendel (the rocky Duma), 
between the Syrian Desert and Arabia Proper, 
about six days journey from Damascus and 
twice that distance from Medina. 

Massa ; usually connected with the Masanoi 
of Ptol., V., 19, 2, northeast of Duma. In As- 
surbanipal's inscriptions, dfas'u is found to- 
gether with Nabaitai and Kidri. 

15. Hadad (not Hadar), as in 1 Chron. 1 : 
30, has been identified with a tribe in Yemen, 



between Oman and Bahrein, a district renowned 
for its lances. 

Tema is recognized in a tribe of the same 
name mentioned in Jer. 25 : 23 ; Job 6 : 19 (comp. 
isa. 21 : 14) as traders. It lay on the borders of 
Nejd and the Syrian Desert. 

Jetur and Naphish are mentioned in 1 
Chron. 5 : 18, 19 as neighbors of the tribes east 
of the Jordan, that made war against them and 
partially subdued them. This district was later 
called Itursea. 

Kedemah is otherwise unknown (comp. the 
Kadmonites in 15 : 19). 

16. By their towns, and by their cas- 
tles ; or, rather, by their villages, and by their 
encampments ; that is, their fixed and movable 
habitations (Kam. 31 : 10). 

Twelve princes according to their na- 
tions (or tribe divisions) ; each nation having 
its own prince, and constituting in itself an 
independent nationality. 

17. And he gave up the ghost and died. 
Ishmael' s death, as well as that of Abraham's 
above, is inserted here by anticipation, in order 
that the history of Isaac which follows might 
not be interrupted. In point of fact, the death 
of Ishmael, though related before the birth of 
Jacob and Esau, did not occur till some years 
afterward. Abraham lived till they were fifteen 
years old, and Ishmael till they were sixty- 
three. 

18. He abode (lit., fell down, that is, his lot 
fell) in the presence of all his brethren, 
and not died as in the Authorized version 

(see on 16 : 12), 

19-34. The Birth of Esau and Jacob. 
19. These are the generations (or, this is 
the family history) of Isaac. The words con- 
stitute the usual formula for the opening of a 
new section (comp. 2 : 4; t : 9). In the latter part 
of the verse and in ver. 20 the sacred writer, as 
is his wont, briefly repeats what has been 



172 



GENESIS 



[Ch. XXV. 



20 And Isaac was forty years old when he took 
Rebekah to wife, the daughter of Bethuel the 
Syrian of Padan-aram, the sister to Laban the 
Syrian. 

21 And Isaac entreated the Lord for his wife, be- 
cause she was barren : and the Lord was entreated 
of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived. 

22 And the children struggled together within 
her ; and she said, If it be so, why am I thus? And 
she went to inquire of the Lord. 

23 And the Lord said unto her, Two nations are 
in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be 
separated from thy bowels ; and the one people shall 
be stronger than the other people; and the elder 
shall serve the younger. 

24 And when her days to be delivered were ful- 
filled, behold, there were twins in her womb. 

25 And the first came out red, all over like a hairy 
garment ; and they called his name Esau. 



20 ham's son : Abraham begat Isaac : and Isaac 
was forty years old when he took Rebekah the 
daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Paddau- 
aram, the sister of Laban the Syrian, to be his 

21 wife. And Isaac intreated the Lord for his 
wife, because she was barren: and the Lord 
was intreated of him, and Rebekah his wife 

22 conceived. And the children struggled together 
within her ; and she said, If it be so, wherefore 
do I live ? And she went to inquire of the Lord. 

23 And the Lord said unto her, 
Two nations are in thy womb, 

And two peoples shall be separated even from 

thy bowels: 
And the one people shall be stronger than the 

other people ; 
And the elder shall serve the younger. 

24 And when her days to be delivered were ful- 
filled, behold, there were twins in her womb. 

25 And the first came forth red, all over like an 
hairy garment ; and they called his name Esau 



already related, and thus "connects the sub- 
sequent streams of Isaac's posterity with their 
original fountain-head in Abraham." l 

20. Isaac was forty years old. when he 
took Rebekah. As Sarah died thirty-seven 
years after Isaac was born (comp. 23 : i) } it follows 
from this statement that he was married three 
years after her death. 

Bethuel the Syrian of Padan-aram. 
As Bethuel was a descendant of Arphaxad, the 
third son of Shem, and not of Aram, his fifth 
son (see 10 : 22-25; comp. ii : ii-26) > he is here styled 
a Syrian (or Aramaean) from the country of his 
adoption. Padan-aram, that is, plain of Aram, 
must be distinguished from Aram-naharayim 
(2i : io), that is, Aram of the two rivers. By 
the latter is meant Mesopotamia as embracing 
the whole country between the Euphrates and 
the Tigris; by the former, the northwestern 
portion of this country in which Haran, the 
abode of Laban, was situated (see 48 : 7 ; Hos. 

12 : 12). 

21. Isaac intreated the Lord for his 
wife, because she was barren. This 
barrenness, w r hich had lasted twenty years 
(ver. 26) ? would try the faith of Isaac, as the 
delay of Isaac's birth for twenty-five years had 
tried the faith of Abraham. Though no prom- 
ise had come to Isaac from the Lord, he could 
yet plead the promise made to his father (22 : 
16-18) that the line of blessing should run 
through him. This promise furnished a divine 
foundation for his intercession. God would 



have the child prayed for, that he might be re- 
garded, not as the fruit of nature, but as a gift 
of grace. 

22. She went to inquire of the Lord. 

Where and how this inquiry was made is not 
recorded. " From the frequency with which 
prophetic dreams are mentioned in Genesis, and 
from the fact that the answer of Jehovah was 
given to Rebekah herself, it is natural to infer 
that the revelation was made to her in a dream." 

23. Two manner of people (or, two 
peoples) shall be separated (that is, divided 
from and against each other) even from thy 
bowels (that is, from birth). The prevailing 
use of the verb T}3, paradh (see 2 Sam. 1:23; 
Prov. 19 : 4; Neh. 4 : 19 ; Gen. io : 5) forbids the ren- 
dering favored by some : two nations shall issue 
from thy womb. In answer to her prayer, 
Rebekah was informed that she was to be the 
mother of twins, who should be the progenitors 
of two independent nations ; that the descend- 
ants of the younger should be the more power- 
ful, and subdue those of the other (Rom. 9 : 12; 
Mai. 1 : 2, 3). The hostility between Jacob and 
Esau was perpetuated in their descendants 

(Num. 20 : 18-21 ; Ps. 137 : 7 ; 1 Sam 14 : 47 ; 2 Chron. 20 : 
32 ; Ezek. 25 : 12, 13). 

The elder shall serve the younger. 

This prophecy was not fulfilled in the brothers 
themselves, but only in their posterity, with 
whom they are viewed as one ( 2 7 : 29). 

25. The first came forth red, that is, of 
a reddish-brown color. The Hebrew word 



1 Says Green : " It should be observed how closely this portion of the history is knit to what precedes 
as well as to what follows. The life of Abraham repeats itself in that of Isaac, in the renewal of the 
same divine promises, in the trial of faith by a long waiting for the expected child on whom the fulfil- 
ment of every other promise hinged ; in the divine intervention manifest in the birth ; in the distinction 
between the child of divine choice and the rejected firstborn ; in the care taken that the marriage of the 
former should be, not with one of the surrounding Canaanites, but with one of an allied race ; in Isaac's 
betraying the same sinful weakness under temptation as his father ; and in the divine protection and 
blessing which compelled the recognition even of monarchs. The same ideas are made prominent, the 
same leading principles rule throughout the whole." 



Ch. XXV.] 



GENESIS 



173 



26 And after that came his brother out, and his 
hand took hold on Esau's heel ; and his name was 
called Jacob: and Isaac was threescore years old 
when she bare them. 

27 And the boys grews : and Esau was a cunning 
hunter, a man of the field ; and Jacob was a plain 
man, dwelling in tents. 

28 And Isaac loved Esau, because he did eat of 
his venison : but Rebekah loved Jacob. 

29 And Jacob sod pottage : and Esau came from 
the field, and he was faint : 

30 And Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, I pray thee, 
with that same red pottage; for I am faint: there- 
fore was his name called Edom. 

31 And Jacob said, SeU me this day thy birth- 
right. 



26 And after that came forth his brother, and his 
hand had hold on Esau's heel ; and his name 
was called Jacob: and Isaac was threescore 

27 years old when she bare them. And the boys 
grew : and Esau was a cunning hunter, a man 
of the field ; and Jacob was a plain man, dwell- 

28 ing in tents. Now Isaac loved Esau, because he 
did eat of his venison : and Rebekah loved 

29 Jacob. And Jacob sod pottage : and Esau came 

30 in from the field, and he was faint : and Esau 
said to Jacob, Feed me, I pray thee, with that 
same red pottage; for I am faint: therefore was 

31 his name called Edom. And Jacob said, Sell 



1 JiS"^, 'adhmoni, of the same origin with Edom, 
another appellation of Esau, occurs only twice 
elsewhere (i Sam. 16 : 12 ; 17 : 42) f in both which 
passages it is used to describe the florid com- 
plexion of David, and is translated ruddy. 
"Arab authors," says Knobel, "derive the red- 
haired Orientals from Esau." 

All over like a hairy garment ; lit., 
all of him as a mantle of hair, " the indication 
of a passionate and precocious nature." 

Esau ; meaning hairy. 

26. Jacob ; lit., heel-holder, then supplant- 
er, as by taking hold of the heel one causes 
another to fall or overcomes him. 

27. A cunning hunter ; that is, skilled in 

hunting (comp. 1 Sam. 16 : 16). 

Jacob was a plain man. The adjec- 
tive rendered "plain" is literally perfect, up- 
right; and as it is commonly used of right- 
eous, God-fearing men (comp. 6:9; Job 1 : i), it 
must here, as applied to Jacob (considering 
that he was not in his earlier years distinguished 
for integrity), be taken to mean that he was 
regular in his habits, quiet, sedate, domestic, in 
contrast with Esau, whose life and habits were 
wild, lawless, and adventurous. 

Dwelling in tents; that is, "staying at 
home, attending to the pasturing of the flocks 
and the business of the family, instead of wan- 
dering abroad in search of pleasure and amuse- 
ment." 

28. Now Isaac loved Esau, because 
he did eat of his venison ; lit., because 
venison was in his mouth, that is, was his fa- 
vorite food. That Isaac should have been par- 
tial toward Esau on this ground was a weakness 
wholly unworthy of him, and the cause of 
much of the trouble that afterward disturbed 
his family. And the mischief was increased 
by Eebekah's partiality for Jacob. No reason 
for her preference is stated, but she was doubt- 



less largely influenced by the ante-natal pre- 
diction: "The elder shall serve the younger," 
which marked him out as the one more favored 
of heaven. Moreover, his gentle disposition 
and domestic habits would naturally endear 
him to his mother, just as Esau's bold daring 
made him probably the favorite of his father. 

29. And Jacob sod {boiled) pottage; a 
nutritious soup of lentils or small beans (comp. 
rer. 34), which are common in Egypt and Syria. 
Says Doctor Tristram: "There are several 
varieties recognized, and the red lentil is con- 
sidered the best. . . It is generally used as a 
pottage, or cooked as the Spaniards cook hari- 
cot beans, stewed with oil, and flavored with 
red pepper. It is by no means an unsavory 
dish." 

30. And Esau said to Jacob, Feed 
me, I pray thee, with that same red 
pottage ; lit., let me now eat of the red — of 
that red. In his eagerness to gratify his palate, 
and relieve his hunger, he omits the name of the 
mess, and designates it merely by its outward 
appearance, as that red (stuff). Therefore was 
his name called Edom (red). 

31. And Jacob said, Sell me this day 
thy birthright ; that is, the rights and privi- 
leges which, according to patriarchal usages, 
belonged to the firstborn. In the family of 
Abraham, these were: (1) Succession to the 
earthly inheritance in Canaan (28 : 4) ; (2) the 
larger portion of the paternal estate (24 : 36 ; 
25 : 6)1 ; (3) lordship over the rest of the family 
(27 : 29) ; (4) the functions of the domestic priest- 
hood (Exod. 4 : 22; Num. 8 : 17)2; (5) possession of 

the covenant blessing transmitted through the 
paternal benediction (27 : 4, 19, 27-29) ; (6) pro- 
genitorship of the promised seed (28 : 14). It 
was the birthright as standing for the spiritual 
blessings of the covenant with the race of Abra- 
ham that Jacob especially desired. These bless- 



1 In later times the birthright conveyed a double share of the paternal possessions (Deut. 21 : 17). 

2 "Before the tabernacle was erected," says the Mishna Sebachim XIV., 4, "the Bamoth (local sanc- 
tuaries) were permitted, and the Abodah (the priestly office) was with the firstborn." 



174 



GENESIS 



[Ch. XXVI. 



32 And Esau said, Behold, I am at the point to 
die : and what profit shall this birthright do to me? 

33 And Jacob said, Swear to me this day ; and he 
sware unto him : and he sold his birthright unto 
Jacob. 

34 Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of 
lentiles ; and he did eat and drink, and rose up, and 
went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright. 



32 me this day thy birthright. And Esau said, Be- 
hold, I am at the point to die : and what profit 

33 shall the birthright do to me? And Jacob said, 
Swear to me this day ; and he sware unto him : 

34 and he sold his birthright unto Jacob. And 
Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentils ; 
and he did eat and drink, and rose up, and 
went his way : so Esau despised his birthright. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

1 AND there was a famine in the land, besides 
the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. 
And Isaac went unto Abimelech king of the Philis- 
tines unto Gerar. 

2 And the Lord appeared unto him, and said, Go 
not down into Egypt ; dwell in the land which I 
shall tell thee of. 



1 AND there was a famine in the land, beside 
the first famine that was in the days of Abra- 
ham. And Isaac went unto Abimelech king of 

2 the Philistines unto Gerar. And the Lord ap- 
peared unto him, and said, Go not down into 
Egypt ; dwell in the land which I shall tell thee 



ings were subsequently conferred upon him; 
first by his father's blessing (28 : i) t and then by 
divine communication (28 : 13-15). 

32. And Esau said, Behold, I am at 
the point to die ; that is, I am dying with 
hunger ; or, I am running daily risk of my life : 
and what profit shall the birthright do to me ?— 
thus showing that with him the present life and 
a momentary indulgence of the flesh outweighed 
every other consideration. 

33. And Jacob said, Swear to me this 
day. Jacob, fearing that Esau, when his 
hunger had been satisfied, might not consider 
himself bound by a transaction which involved 
such immense loss to himself and his descend- 
ants, made him swear, that thus the bargain 
might be made irrevocable. 

But Jacob's blameworthiness in getting pos- 
session as he did of the birthright, was equaled 
if not exceeded by that of Esau in parting with 
it. His reason evinced both a contempt for 
spiritual and a doubt of future things ; it proved 
him, in the language of the Epistle to the He- 
brews (12 : 16) t to have been •" a profane person," 
and therefore unfitted to be the heir and possessor 
of the promised grace. 

Selling one's birthright thus became an es- 
tablished expression for every exchange of 
heavenly and spiritual treasures for momentary 
earthly pleasures. As Bishop Hall significantly 
remarked : " There was never any meat, except 
the forbidden fruit, so dear bought as this broth 
of Jacob." 

34. He did eat and drink, and rose 
up, and went his way ; as though nothing 
of consequence had happened. 



Chap. 26. Isaac's Sojourn in Gerar. 
1. And there was a famine in the land; 

namely, of Canaan, to which Isaac had returned 
from Beer-lahai-roi, where he had resided (24 : 

62; 25 : 11). 

Besides the first (recorded) famine that 



was in the days of Abraham— about a 

hundred years before (see on 12 : 10). 

And Isaac went unto Abimelech king 
of the Philistines unto Gerar (com P . 20 : 1, 2 ; 
21 : 22). As seventy or eighty years had elapsed 
since Abraham's sojourn in Gerar, this king can 
scarcely be taken as the one who then reigned. 
Abimelech appears to have been the official 
name of the kings of the Philistines, just as 
Pharaoh was that of the kings of Egypt. In- 
deed, Abimelech appears as the name of a 
Philistine king (Achish was his personal name) 
as late as David's time (comp. title to p s . 34 with 1 
Sam. 21 : 11). Gerar, the residence of the Phil- 
istine king Abimelech, lay on the maritime 
plain south of Gaza, about nine miles in a 
southeasterly direction from that place. It was 
the most southern city of the Philistines. Its 
ruins are now called Kirbet-el-Gerar (see on 
10 : 19). 

2. And the Lord (Jehovah, that is, the 
God of the covenant and of the promise) ap- 
peared unto him. This is the first of only 
two theophanies which are mentioned as having 
been granted to the patriarch. The other is re- 
ferred to in ver. 24. The last recorded vision 
was that vouchsafed to Abraham at the sacrifice 
of Isaac more than sixty years before (chap. 22). 
These revelations, though separated by inter- 
vals of considerable length, were yet sufficient 
to keep up the knowledge of God and sustain 
the faith of the patriarchs in the line of the 
chosen people and of the promised seed. 

Go not down into Egypt. In order to 
escape the famine, it appears to have been 
Isaac's intention to proceed to Egypt, as his 
father had done on a previous occasion (12 : 10) ; 
but having reached Gerar on the way, the Lord 
instructed him to remain there (ver. 6). This 
city was on the main route to Egypt, from 
which supplies of food could easily be obtained. 

It is noticeable that while Jacob in the later 
famine was instructed to go down to Egypt (« : 



Ch. XXVI. ] 



GENESIS 



175 



3 Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, 
and will bless thee ; for unto thee, and unto thy 
seed, I will give all these countries, and I will per- 
form the oath which I swear unto Abraham thy 
father ; 

4 And I will make thy seed to multiply as the 
stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all 
these countries; and in thy seed shall all the 
nations of the earth be blessed : 

5 Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and 
kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, 
and my laws. . 

6 And Isaac dwelt in Gerar. 

7 And the men of the place asked him of his wife ; 
and he said, She is my sister : for he feared to say, 
She is my wife ; lest, said he, the men of the place 
should kill me for Rebekah ; because she was fair 
to look upon. 

8 And it came to pass, when he had been there a 
long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines 
looked out at a window, and saw, and, behold, 
Isaac was sporting with Rebekah his wife. 

9 And Abimelech called Isaac, and said, Behold, 
of a surety she is thy wife : and how saidst thou, 
She is my sister? And Isaac said unto him, Be- 
cause I said, Lest I die for her. 

10 And Abimelech said, What is this thou hast 
done unto us ? one of the people might lightly have 



3 of sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, 
and will bless thee ; for unto thee, and unto thy 
seed, I will give all these lands, and I will es- 
tablish the oath which I sware unto Abraham 

4 thy father ; and I will multiply thy seed as the 
stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all 
these lands ; and in thy seed shall all the nations 

5 of the earth be blessed ; because that Abraham 
obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my com- 

6 mandments, my statutes, and my laws. And 

7 Isaac dwelt in Gerar : and the men of the place 
asked him of his wife ; and he said, She is my 
sister : for he feared to say, My wife ; lest, said 
he, the men of the place should kill me for Re- 

8 bekah : because she was fair to look upon. And 
it came to pass, when he had been there a long 
time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines 
looked out at a window, and saw, and, behold, 

9 Isaac was sporting with Rebekah his wife. And 
Abimelech called Isaac, and said, Behold, of a 
surety she is thy wife : and how saidst thou, She 
is my sister? And Isaac said unto him, Because 

10 I said, Lest I die for her. And Abimelech said, 
What is this thou hast done unto us? one of the 



3, 4)„and Abraham in the earlier one was left at 
liberty to act for himself (12 : 10) f in this instance 
Isaac is interdicted from going down. More- 
over Isaac, being a man of weaker faith and of 
correspondingly weaker character than Abra- 
ham, had he gone down to Egypt at this time, 
might have been tempted by its rich pasture 
lands to remain there, and so have forgotten 
the land of promise or have fallen into worse 
sin than that committed by Abraham. 

3. 4. In these verses — and for the first and 
only time — the promise which had been so often 
addressed to Abraham (see 12 : 2, 3 ; 13 : 15, 16 ; 15 : 
is ; 22 : 17, is) was repeated, with some variation 
of expression, to Isaac. For Isaac's encourage- 
ment and comfort all the essential good of the 
promise is assured to him, but in a way that 
leaves no room for self-complacency, since he is 
reminded that the procuring cause of the signal 
favor is Abraham's merit and not his own. 

4. All these countries, lands; that is, the 
lands or territories of the different Canaanitish 
tribes mentioned in 15 : 19-21 ; comp. Ps. 105 : 
42-44. 

5. My charge (generally, that which is to 
be kept), my commandments (express or 
occasional orders), my statutes (permanent 
ordinances — lit., that which is graven on stone) » 
and my laws (moral teachings). These terms, 
taken together, mark the perfection of Abra- 
ham's obedience. He gave the most diligent 
heed to all God's revelations and instructions. 
The first term is the most general; the three 
that follow particularly define its contents, as 
in 1 Kings 2 : 3. 

7-11. Isaac here exhibits the same infirmity 



which dishonored his father both in Egypt and 
subsequently in Gerar (comp. 12 : 11-13, and 20 : 2-13). 
With the warning example of his father before 
him, which should have deterred him from a 
similar course of action, his own conduct is seen 
to have been the more reprehensible. But 
Isaac was an imitator of his father even to the 
extent of copying his faults. The similarity 
between the events recorded in this chapter and 
incidents in the life of Abraham is so striking, 
that some writers have represented them as 
simply two different versions of the same events. 
They have, however, overlooked points of dif- 
ference sufficiently marked to prove a real dis- 
similarity. For example, in the history of 
Abraham Sarah was taken into the house of 
Pharaoh, and afterward into that of Abimelech, 
while in the history of Isaac there was no ap- 
parent intention on the part of Abimelech to 
take Rebekah into his house. History furnishes 
many singular coincidences which must yet be 
regarded as originating in separate and inde- 
pendent facts or occurrences. 

7. He said, She is my sister. " Sister," 
like "brother," was a general term for near 
relations (see 24 : 60). Thus Bethuel is called the 
brother of Abraham (24 : 48; comp. 14 : 14) when 
he was his nephew, just as Pebekah is here 
called the sister of Isaac, though she was his 
cousin. However, in calling Pebekah his sister 
Isaac equivocated, since he wished hereby to 
give the impression that she was his own sister, 
rather than his wife (wo on 12 : 11-13 ; 20 : 2-13). 

10. What is this thou hast done unto 
us ? Abimelech reproves Isaac for misrepre- 
senting his true relationship to Pebekah. Still, 



176 



GENESIS 



lain with thy wife, and thou shouldest have brought 
guiltiness upon us. 

11 And Abimelech charged all his people, saying, 
He that toucheth this man or his wife shall surely 
be put to death. 

12 Then Isaac sowed in that laud, and received 
in the same year a hundredfold : and the Loed 
blessed him. 

13 And the man waxed great, and went forward, 
and grew until he became very great : 

14 For he had possession of flocks, and possession 
of herds, and great store of servants: and the 
Philistines envied him. 

15 For all the wells which his father's servants 
had digged in the days of Abraham his father, the 
Philistines had stopped them, and filled them with 
earth. 

16 And Abimelech said unto Isaac, Go from us ; 
for thou art much mightier than we. 

17 And Isaac departed thence, and pitched his 
tent in the valley of Gerar, and dwelt there. 

18 And Isaac digged again the wells of water, 
which they had digged in the days of Abraham his 
father ; for the Philistines had stopped them after 
the death of Abraham : and he called their names 
after the names by which his father had called 
them. 

19 And Isaac's servants digged in the valley, and 
found there a well of springing water. 

20 And the herdmen of Gerar did strive with 
Isaac's herdmen, saying, The water is ours: and 
he called the name of the well Esek ; because they 
strove with him. 

21 And they digged another well, and strove for 
that also : and he called the name of it Sitnah. 

22 And he removed from thence, and digged an- 
other well ; and for that they strove not : and he 
called the name of it Rehoboth ; and he said, For 
now the Lord hath made room for us, and we shall 
be fruitful in the land. 



[Ch. XXVI. 



people might lightly have lien with thy wife, and 
thou shouldest have brought guiltiness upon us. 

11 And Abimelech charged all the people, saying, 
He that toucheth this man or his wife shall 

12 surely be put to death. And Isaac sowed in that 
land, and found in the same year an hundred- 

13 fold : and the Lord blessed him. And the man 
waxed great, and grew more and more until he 

14 became very great: and he had possessions of 
flocks, and possessions of herds, and a great 
household: and the Philistines envied him. 

15 Now all the wells which his father's servants 
had digged in the days of Abraham his father, 
the Philistines had stopped them, and filled 

16 them with earth. And Abimelech said unto 
Isaac, Go from us ; for thou art much mightier 

17 than we. And Isaac departed thence, and en- 
camped in the valley of Gerar, and dwelt there. 

18 And Isaac digged again the wells of water, 
which they had digged in the days of Abraham 
his father : for the Philistines had stopped them 
after the death of Abraham : and he called their 
names after the names by which his father had 

19 called them. And Isaac's servants digged in 
the valley, and found there a well of springing 

20 water. And the herdmen of Gerar strove with 
Isaac's herdmen, saying, The water is ours : and 
he called the name of the well Esek ; because 

21 they contended with him. And they digged an- 
other well, and they strove for that also : and he 

22 called the name of it Sitnah. And he removed 
from thence, and digged another well ; and for 
that they strove not : and he called the name of 
it Rehoboth ; and he said, For now the Lord 
hath made room for us, and we shall be fruitful 



weak as Isaac's conduct is, so conspicuous was 
God's blessing on him, that he is honored by 
the Philistines, as was his father. 

12. Isaac sowed, in that land. Thiswas 
according to the custom of the patriarchs who, 
though chiefly nomadic and pastoral in their 
habits of life, did not yet entirely neglect the 
cultivation of the soil. The Bedouins at the 
present day are accustomed, when they come to 
a fertile district which promises to afford pastur- 
age for some length of time, to apply themselves 
to agriculture, and after harvest, if necessary, 
to remove to another place. 

An hundredfold; lit., a hundred measures; 
that is, probably for each measure sown. The 
neighborhood of Gerar is to this day exceed- 
ingly fertile, as the Arab grain magazines at 
Nuttar Abu Sumar, in the vicinity of Gaza, 
testify. Thomson relates ("Land and Book") 
that on the plain of Sidon he had seen more 
than a hundred stocks spring from a single root, 
and each with a head bowing gracefully beneath 
the load of well-formed grains. In the present 
instance the extraordinary yield was the conse- 
quence of a special blessing (Job 42 : 12). 

14. The Philistines envied him. His 
rapid increase in wealth and influence excited 
their jealousy and apprehension ; hence, as a 



means of compelling him to remove elsewhere, 
since they could not prevent his fields from 
yielding abundant harvests, they resorted to 
the base expedient of filling up the wells (ver. 
15) which his father had digged, and on which 
he depended for water (see on 21 : 23). 

16. Go from us ; for thou art much 
mightier than we. [Isaac believes from this 
action of the king that he shares the jealousy 
of his people (ver. 21)]. 

Being a peace-loving man, he yields to the 
king's request and removes to the valley of 
Gerar (ver. it). This valley (or wady, as the 
original term signifies) has been identified with 
the Joorf-el-Gerar, about three hours southeast 
of Gaza. 

18-22. Abraham, it appears, had digged 
other wells than that of Beer-sheba (21 ; 31). 
These wells, which the Philistines had stopped, 
Isaac reopened and, as showing his filial affec- 
tion, called them by the names his father had 
given them. In addition to this labor, his serv- 
ants dug three new wells (see ver. 19,21,22), con- 
cerning the first and second of which, Abime- 
lech' s people raised a dispute, so that Isaac called 
them Esek and Sitnah, strife and opposition. 
As no dispute arose concerning the third well, 
it was called Rehoboth (enlargements), for 



Ch. XXVI.] 



GENESIS 



177 



23 And he went up from thence to Beer-sheba. 

24 And the Lord appeared unto him the same 
night, and said, I am the God of Abraham thy 
father: fear not, for I am with thee, and will bless 
thee, and multiply thy seed for my servant Abra- 
ham's sake. 

25 And he builded an altar there, and called 
upon the name of the Lord, and pitched his tent 
there : and there Isaac's servants digged a well. 

26 Then Abimelech went to him from Gerar, and 
Ahuzzath one of his friends, and Phichol the chief 
captain of his army. 

27 And Isaac said unto them, Wherefore come ye 
to me, seeiug ye hate me, and have sent me away 
from you? 

28 And they said, We saw certainly that the 
Lord was with thee : and we said, Let there be 
now an oath betwixt us, even betwixt us and thee, 
and let us make a covenant with thee ; 

29 That thou wilt do us no hurt, as we have not 
touched thee, and as we have done unto thee 
nothing but good, and have sent thee away in 
peace : thou art now the blessed of the Lord. 

30 And he made them a feast, and they did eat 
and drink. 

31 And they rose up betimes in the morning, and 
sware one to another : and Isaac sent them away, 
and they departed from him in peace. 

32 And it came to pass the same day, that Isaac's 
servants came, and told him concerning the well 
which they had digged, and said unto him, We 
haye found water. 

33 And he called it Shebah : therefore the name 
of the city is Beer-sheba unto this day. 



23 in the land. And he went up from thence to 

24 Beer-sheba. And the Lord appeared unto him 
the same night, and said, I am the God of Abra- 
ham thy father: fear not, for I am with thee, 
and will bless thee, and multiply thy seed for 

25 my servant Abraham's sake. And he builded 
au altar there, and called upon the name of the 
Lord, and pitched his tent there: and there 

26 Isaac's servants digged a well. Then Abimelech 
went to him from Gerar, and Ahuzzath his 

27 friend, and Phicol the captain of his host. And 
Isaac said unto them, Wherefore are ye come 
unto me, seeing ye hate me, and have sent me 

28 away from you? And they said, We saw plainly 
that the Lord was with thee : and we said, Let 
there now be an oath betwixt us, even betwixt 
us and thee, and let us make a covenant with 

29 thee ; that thou wilt do us no hurt, as we have 
not touched thee, and as we have done unto 
thee nothing but good, and have sent thee away 
in peace : thou art now the blessed of the Lord. 

30 And he made them a feast, and they did eat and 

31 drink. And they rose up betimes in the morn- 
ing, and sware one to another : and Isaac sent 
them away, and they departed from him in 

32 peace. And it came to pass the same day, that 
Isaac's servants came, and told him concerning 
the well which they had digged, and said unto 

33 him, We have found water. And he called it 
Shibah : therefore the name of the city is Beer- 
sheba unto this day. 



id : " The Lord hath made room for us." 
This well was probably not in the valley of 
Gerar, as Isaac had removed thence (ver. 22), 
Isaac's peaceable character is beautifully illus- 
trated in this narrative. Kurtz truly remarks : 
"Elasticity of endurance, which does not resist 
evil nor contend against it, but by patience and 
yielding overcomes it, constitutes the funda- 
mental type of the character of Isaac, and in 
this lies his real claim to greatness." 

23. He went up from thence (that is, 
from Eehoboth) to Beer-sheba. The long 
residence of his father in Beer-sheba (21 : 34) 
would greatly endear the place to him. Here, 
doubtless, near the tamarisk tree which his 
father had planted (21 : 33), he pitched his tent. 
Here the Lord renewed to him the assurance of 
his grace (ver. 2-4), as he did afterward to Jacob 
(« : 1). Here, in humble acknowledgment of 
the divine favor, he built an altar " and called 
upon the name of the Lord"; and here also 
his servants digged a well. 

26-29. The transaction related in these 
words is almost a parallel, in every particular, 
of the corresponding event in Abraham's life, 
narrated in 21 : 22-32. Abimelech was anxious 
to renew the alliance which, ninety years be- 
fore, had been concluded with Abraham. For 
this purpose he visited the tent of Isaac, accom- 
panied not only by Phicol his chief captain, 
but also by Ahuzzath his privy councilor (Prov. 
w ; 7). Isaac's " timid and passive temper had 
M 



submitted to the annoyances of his rude neigh- 
bors; but now that they wish to renew the 
covenant, he evinces deep feeling at their con- 
duct, and astonishment at their assurance, or 
artifice, in coming near him. Being, however, 
of a pacific disposition, he forgave their offense, 
accepted their proposals, and treated them to 
the banquet by which the ratification of a cove- 
nant was usually crowned." By the renewal of 
the covenant the Philistines were exempted 
from the fate to which the Canaanites were 
doomed, and had their independence guaranteed 
to them. 

26. Phicol (meaning, mouth of all) ap- 
pears to have been the official title of the 
military' commander, and not the proper name 
of an individual. One of the same name, 
and holding the same office, is mentioned in 
21 : 22. 

32. We have found water. The same 
day on which Isaac's visitors took their leave 
of him, his servants, who had been digging a 
new well, brought him word that they had 
found water; and the pious patriarch, whose 
mind was still absorbed by the solemn act of 
the morning, called the well Shibah, that is, 
oath, in commemoration of the treaty which 
had been ratified by an exchange of oaths. 
This well was doubtless additional to the one 
dug by Abraham (21 : 3i) ; and not simply that 
well restored. The largest well of the place, 
known as the central well, and still in use, is 



178 



GENESIS 



[On. XXVIL 



34 And Esau was forty years old when he took to 
wife Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and 
Bashemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite : 

35 Which were a grief of mind unto Isaac and to 
Rebekah. 



34 And when Esau was forty years old he took to 
wife Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, 
and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite ; 

35 and they were a grief of mind unto Isaac and to 
Rebekah. 



CHAPTER XXVII 



1 AND it came to pass, that when Isaac was old, 
and his eyes were dim, so that he could not see, he 
called Esau his eldest son, and said unto him, My 
son : and he said unto him, Behold, here am I. 

2 And he said, Behold now, I am old, I know not 
the day of my death : 

3 Now therefore take, I pray thee, thy weapons, 
thy quiver and thy bow, and go out to the field, 
and take me some venison ; 

4 And make me savoury meat, such as I love, 
and bring it to me, that I may eat ; that my soul 
may bless thee before I die. 

5 And Rebekah heard when Isaac spake to Esau 
his son. And Esau went to the field to hunt for 
venison, and to bring it. 

6 And Rebekah spake unto Jacob her son, say- 
ing, Behold, I heard thy father speak unto Esau 
thy brother, saying, 

7 Bring me venison, and make me savoury meat, 
that I may eat, and bless thee before the Lord 
before my death. 



1 AND it came to pass, that when Isaac was old, 
and his eyes were dim, so that he could not see, 
he called Esau his elder son, and said unto him, 
My son : and he said unto him, Here am I. 

2 And he said, Behold now, I am old, I know not 

3 the day of my death. Now therefore take, I 
pray thee, thy weapons, thy quiver and thy 
bow, and go out to the field, and take me 

4 venison ; and make me savoury meat, such as I 
love, and bring it to me, that I may eat ; that 

5 my soul may bless thee before I die. And Re- 
bekah heard when Isaac spake to Esau his son. 
And Esau went to the field to hunt for venison, 

6 and to bring it. And Rebekah spake unto Jacob 
her son, saying, Behold, I heard thy father 

7 speak unto Esau thy brother, saying, Bring me 
venison, and make me savoury meat, that I may 
eat, and bless thee before the Lord before my 



attributed by the Arabs to Abraham (see foot-note 

on 21 : 31). 

34. When Esau was forty years old 
he took to wife Judith . • . and Bashe- 
math. By this act the domestic peace of the 
patriarch's family was greatly disturbed. These 
Hittite wives were a grief of mind (lit., "a 
bitterness of spirit") to Isaac and Eebekah. 
The primary cause of the "bitterness of spirit" 
was doubtless the fact that they belonged to a 
tribe that was devoted to destruction, and from 
which the Hebrews were forever to be separated. 
Esau's alliance with this idolatrous people 
shows that he estimated too lightly both the 
favor and displeasure of God (see on 36 : 2). 



Chap. 27. The Stolen Blessing. 1. 
When Isaac was old. Most commentaries 
place his age at this time at one hundred and 
thirty-seven years. Others who reckon Jacob's 
term of service in Padan-aram at forty instead 
of twenty years, place it at one hundred and 
seventeen as nearer the truth. 

2. I am old, I know not the day of my 
death. He lived forty- three or sixty- three 
years longer, according to the calculation 
adopted ; but being blind and bedridden, it 
was only natural for him to imagine himself 
near the grave. 

4. Make me savoury meat . . . that my 
soul may Dless thee. Notwithstanding 
God's declaration to Eebekah (25 : 23) and Esau's 
unworthy conduct, Isaac still appears to have 
clung to the belief that Esau was the destined 
heir of the covenant blessing. Accordingly, 
that his heart might be more warmed to him on 



whom he proposed to bestow the blessing, and 
as preparatory to the act, he would receive from 
Esau's hands the savoury meat which he so 
much loved, and which he believed none could 
prepare so well. 

6. Rebekah spake unto Jacob her son. 
It is observable that Jacob is here called Ee- 
bekah' s son, just as in the preceding verse Esau 
is called Isaac's son ; the meaning being that 
Jacob was the favorite son of his mother, and 
Esau the favorite son of his father. 

When Esau had gone to the field to hunt for 
venison, Eebekah, who had overheard Isaac's 
instructions to him, took immediate steps to 
frustrate her husband's intention, and secure 
the blessing for Jacob. The means she em- 
ployed to this end were anything but straight- 
forward. It may be admitted, indeed, that she 
very highly prized the blessing which Esau so 
utterly disregarded; she knew that God in- 
tended it for her younger son ; and in her 
anxiety to secure its being conferred on him, 
she acted under the influence of a strong faith. 
But her policy was crooked, and her zeal un- 
enlightened. Her faith was mixed with an un- 
spiritual alloy; instead of patiently abiding 
till God by his providence should work out his 
plans, she strove, and by unlawful means, to 
hasten their fulfilment. His overruling this 
event for good did not make less reprehensible 
the conduct of the parties concerned. During 
their subsequent lives both Eebekah and Jacob 
reaped the bitter fruit of their treachery and 
falsehood. Eebekah never saw Jacob again 
after his exile, and Jacob had to toil for over 
twenty years, far from his home, instead of 



Ch. XXVII.] 



GENESIS 



179 



8 Now therefore, my son, obey my voice accord- i 
ing to that which I command thee. 

9 Go now to the flock, and fetch me from thence j 
two good kids of the goats ; and I will make them | 
savoury meat for thv father, such as he loveth : 

10 And thou shaft bring it to thy father, that he i 
may eat, and that he may bless thee before his ! 
dea'th. 

11 And Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, Be- 
hold, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a \ 
smooth man : 

12 My father peradventure will feel me, and I 
shall seem to him as a deceiver ; and I shall bring 
a curse upon me, and not a blessing. 

13 And his mother said unto him, Upon me be 
thy curse, my son : only obey my voice, and go 
fetch me them. 

14 And he went, and fetched, and brought them 
to his mother : and his mother made savoury meat, 
such as his father loved. 

15 And Rebekah took goodly raiment of her 
eldest son Esau, which were with her in the house, 
and put them upon Jacob her younger son : 

16 And she put the skins of the kids of the goats 
upon his hands, and upon the smooth of his neck : 

17 And she gave the savoury meat and the bread, 
which she had prepared, into the hand of her son 
Jacob. 

18 And he came unto his father, and said, My 
father : and he said, Here am I ; who art thou, my 
son? 

19 And Jacob said unto his father, I am Esau thy 
firstborn; I have done according as thou badest 
me : arise, I pray thee, sit and eat of my venison, 
that thy soul may bless me. 

20 And Isaac said unto his son, How is it that 
thou hast found it so quickly, my son? And he 
said, Because the Lord thy God brought it to me. 

21 And Isaac said unto Jacob, Come near, I pray 
thee, that I may feel thee, my son, whether thou be 
my very son Esau or not. 

22 And Jacob went near unto Isaac his father ; 
and he felt him, and said, The voice is Jacob's 
voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau. 

23 And he discerned him not, because his hands 



8 death. Now therefore, my son, obey my voice 

9 according to that which I command thee. Go 
now to the flock, and fetch me from thence two 
good kids of the goats ; and I will make them 
savoury meat for thy father, such as he loveth : 

10 and thou shalt bring it to thy father, that he 
may eat, so that he may bless thee before his 

11 death. And Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, 
Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I 

12 am a smooth man. My father peradventure will 
feel me, and I shall seem to him as a deceiver ; 
and I shall bring a curse upon me, and not a 

13 blessing. And his mother said unto him, Upon 
me be thy curse, my son : only obey my voice, 

14 and go fetch me them. And he went, and 
fetched, and brought them to his mother : and 
his mother made savoury meat, such as his 

15 father loved. And Rebekah took the goodly 
raiment of Esau her elder son, which were with 
her in the house, and put them upon Jacob her 

16 younger son : and she put the skins of the kids 
of the goats upon his hands, and upon the 

17 smooth of his neck : and she gave the savoury 
meat and the bread, which she had prepared, 

18 into the hand of her son Jacob. And he came 
unto his father, and said. My father : and he 

19 said, Here am I ; who art thou, my son ? And 
Jacob said unto his father, 1 am Esau thy first- 
born ; I have done according as thou badest 
me : arise, I pray thee, sit and eat of my venison, 

20 that thy soul may bless me. And Isaac said 
unto his son, How* is it that thou hast found it 
so quickly, my son? And he said, Because the 

21 Lord thy" God* sent me good speed. And Isaac 
said unto Jacob, Come near, I pray thee, that I 
may feel thee, my son, whether thou be my very 

22 son Esau or not. And Jacob went near unto 
Isaac his father ; and he felt him, and said, The 
voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the 

23 hands of Esau. And he discerned him not, be- 



sharing the wealth and comfort of his father's 
tents. 
12. My father peradventure will feel 

me. Jacob's fear of detection appears to have 
been stronger than his sense of the wrong pro- 
posed. On this point his mind was set at rest 
by the words of his mother : " Upon me be thy 
curse, my son " ; in which, by implication, she 
declared that failure was impossible, so sure 
was she that her stratagem would succeed. 

15. Goodly raiment of Esau her elder 
son. It was probably the long white robe— 
the vestment of the firstborn, which, trans- 
mitted from father to son, and kept in a chest 
among fragrant herbs (ver. 27), was worn on all 
festal occasions. 

16. The skins of the kids of the goats. 
The Oriental camel-goat is meant, large flocks 
of which are still to be found near Mount 
Lebanon. They have long, silky hair, which 
looks and feels not unlike human hair. The 
Romans used it for wigs and other artificial 
head-coverings. The locks of the Shulamite 
are likened to the hair of these goats (song of 

Solomon 4 : l) t 



18. Who art thou, my son? When Jacob 
presented himself before his father, pretending 
that he was Esau returned with the venison, his 
father, who knew his voice — and his crafty dis- 
position as well — suspected evidently that some 
deception was being attempted upon him. 
Hence his interrogation : " How is it that thou 
hast found it so quickly, my son?" Jacob's 
blasphemous reply: "Because the Lord thy 
God sent me good speed," failed to allay his 
father's suspicion, and he would therefore sub- 
ject him to the further test of touch: "Come 
near, I pray thee, that I may feel thee, my 
son." And even now, when the testimony of 
the feeling hand seemed to outweigh that of the 
hearing ear, he asks — showing that doubt still 
lingered in his mind: "Art thou my very son 
Esau ? " 

None may tell to what perils and troubles 
the first deviation from the right way may lead. 
Jacob began with deception, followed it up 
with falsehood, and ended with making God 
himself— and God in his covenant relation to 
Isaac (Jehovah thy God), confederate in his 



180 



GENESIS 



[Ch. XXVII. 



were hairy, as his brother Esau's hands : so he 
blessed him. 

24 And he said, Art thou my very son Esau? And 
he said, I am. 

25 And he said, Bring it near to me, and I will 
eat of my son's venison, that my soul may bless 
thee. And he brought it near to him, and he did 
eat : and he brought him wine, and he drank. 

26 And his father Isaac said unto him, Come 
near now, and kiss me, my son. 

27 And he came near, and kissed him : and he 
smelled the smell of his raiment, and blessed him, 
and said, See, the smell of my son is as the smell of 
a field which the Lord hath blessed : 

28 Therefore God give thee of the dew of heaven, 
and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn 
and wine : 

29 Let people serve thee, and nations bow down 
to thee : be lord over thy brethren, and let thy 
mother's sons bow down to thee : cursed be every 
one that curseth thee, and blessed be he that 
blesseth thee. 

30 And it came to pass, as soon as Isaac had made 
an end of blessing Jacob, and Jacob was yet scarce 
gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, that 
Esau his brother came in from his hunting. 

31 And he also had made savoury meat, and 
brought it unto his father, and said unto his father, 
Let my father arise, and eat of his son's venison, 
that thy soul may bless me. 

32 And Isaac his father said unto him, Who art 
thou? And he said, I am thy son, thy firstborn, 
Esau. 



cause his hands were hairy, as his brother 

24 Esau's hands : so he blessed him. And he said, 
Art thou my very son Esau ? And he said, I am. 

25 And he said, Bring it near to me, and I will eat 
of my son's venison, that my soul may bless 
thee. And he brought it near to him, and he did 
eat: and he brought him wine, and he drank. 

26 And his father Isaac said unto him, Come near 

27 now, and kiss me, my son. And he came near, 
and kissed him : and he smelled the smell of his 
raiment, and blessed him, and said, 

See, the smell of my son 

Is as the smell of a field which the Lord hath 
blessed : 

28 And God give thee of the dew of heaven, 
And of the fatness of the earth, 

And plenty of corn and wine : 

29 Let peoples serve thee, 

And nations bow down to thee : 

Be lord over thy brethren, 

And let thy mother's sons bow down to thee : 

Cursed be every one that curseth thee, 

And blessed be every one that blesseth thee. 

30 And it came to pass, as soon as Isaac had made an 
end of blessing Jacob, and Jacob was yet scarce 
gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, 
that Esau his brother came in from his hunting. 

31 And he also made savoury meat, and brought it 
unto his father; and he said unto his father, 
Let my father arise, and eat of his son's venison, 

32 that thy soul may bless me. And Isaac his 
father said unto him, Who art thou? And he 



23. He blessed him ; addressed to him 
the words commonly used at meeting and part- 
ing (see 47 : 7, 10 ; 2 Kings 4 : 29 ; comp. Ruth 2:4). The 

formal blessing is recorded in ver. 27-29. 

26. Come near now, and kiss me, my 
son. This kiss was probably the kiss of pa- 
ternal affection, and not, as Tuch suggests, the 
kiss by which Isaac would "distinguish the 
shepherd who would smell of the flock from 
the huntsman who would smell of the field." 

27. He smelled the smell of his rai- 
ment, and blessed him. The clothes of 
Esau were impregnated with the odor of the 
fields over which he had roamed in his hunting 
excursions. 

27b-29. These words take a poetic form, 
which is usually the case with the Hebrews 
when they depart from simple narrative and 
speak or write under the influence of strong 
feeling. 

28. God give thee of the dew of heav- 
en. The soil of Palestine was largely depend- 
ent for its fertility on the copious dews — amount- 
ing almost to rain (see Land and Book, p. 491) — 
which fell upon it. These made it wonderfully 
productive — "a fat land" (Neh. 9:25,35; comp. 
Deut. 8 : 8, 9). Hence the frequent use in Scrip- 
ture of dew as a symbol of material prosperity 

(Deut. 32 : 2 ; 33 : 13, 38 ; Ps. 133 : 3 ; Hos. 14 : 5 ; Micah 

5:7; zech. 8 : 12 ) ( and of its absence as a signal of 

divine displeasure (2 Sani. 1 : 21 ; 1 Kings 17 : 1 ; Hag. 
1 : 10, 11). 

29. Let people serve thee, and nations 



bow down to thee. From physical pros- 
perity the blessing goes on to that which is 
political. Of course, the language must be 
understood, not personally of Jacob, but of his 
descendants. It was signally fulfilled in their 
discomfiture of the hostile tribes that opposed 
them in the wilderness, and in the subsequent 
national establishment of themselves in the 
land of promise. And not only should foreign 
nations acknowledge the sovereignty of Jacob's 
descendants, but also his " mother's sons "; that 
is, the descendants of Esau, and particularly 
the Edomites, the nearest kinsmen of the He- 
brews (2 Sam. 8 : 14 ; 1 Kings 11 : 15 ; Ps. 60 title). 

It will be seen that the words of Isaac include 
the first and second elements of Abraham's 
blessing, but not distinctively the third — that all 
nations should be blessed in him and his seed 
(unless the last be included in the general 
phrase : " Let him that curseth thee be cursed," 
etc.). His restriction of the blessing may have 
been owing to the influence of a doubt whether 
Esau, whom he supposed he was blessing, was 
the really chosen of Jehovah ; at any rate, 
when he became convinced that in blessing 
Jacob he had served the will of God, then he 
bestowed on him in fullest measure the blessing 
of Abraham (see 28 .- 3, 4). 

32. Who art thou? Isaac does not ask 
here (as in ver. is) } Who art thou, my son? " In 
his astonishment and alarm he does not recog- 
nize his son, and demands who this intruder 



Ch. XXVII.] 



GENESIS 



181 



33 And Isaac trembled very exceedingly, and 
said, Who? where is he that hath taken venison, 
and brought it me, and I have eaten of all before 
thou earnest, and have blessed him? yea, and he 
shall be blessed. 

34 And when Esau heard the words of his father, 
he cried with a great and exceeding bitter cry, and 
said unto his father, Bless me, even me also, O my 
father. 

35 And he said, Thy brother came with subtilty, 
and hath taken away thy blessing. 

36 And he said, Is not he rightly named Jacob? 
for he hath supplanted me these two times : he 
took away my birthright ; and, behold, now he 
hath taken away my blessing. And he said, Hast 
thou not reserved a blessing for me? 

37 And Isaac answered and said unto Esau, Be- 
hold, I have made him thy lord, and all his 
brethren have I given to him for servants ; and 
with corn and wine have I sustained him : and 
what shall I do now unto thee, my son ? 

38 And Esau said unto his father, Hast thou but 
one blessing, my father? bless me, even me also, O 
my father. And Esau lifted up his voice, and wept. 

39 And Isaac his father answered and said unto 
him, Behold, thy dwelling shall be the fatness of 
the earth, and of the dew of heaven from above ; 

40 And by thy sword shalt thou live, and shalt 
serve thy brother : and it shall come to pass when 



33 said, I am thy son, thy firstborn, Esau. And 
Isaac trembled very exceedingly, and said, Who 
then is he that hath taken venison, and brought 
it me, and I have eaten of all before thou 
earnest, and have blessed him ? yea, and he 

34 shall be blessed. When Esau heard the words 
of his father, he cried with an exceeding great 
and bitter cry, and said unto his father, Bless 

35 me, even me also, my father. And he said, 
Thy brother came with guile, and hath taken 

36 away thy blessing. And he said, Is not he 
rightly named Jacob? for he hath supplanted 
me these two times: he took away my birth- 
right ; and, behold, now he hath taken away 
my blessing. And he said, Hast thou not re- 

37 served a blessing for me ? And Isaac answered 
and said unto Esau, Behold, I have made him 
thy lord, and all his brethren have I given to 
him for servants ; and with corn and wine have 
I sustained him : and what then shall I do for 

38 thee, my son ? And Esau said unto his father, 
Hast thou but one blessing, my father? bless 
me, even me also, O my father. And Esau lifted 

39 up his voice, and wept. And Isaac his father 
answered and said unto him, 

Behold, of the fatness of the earth shall be thy 

dwelling, 
And of the dew of heaven from above ; 

40 And by thy sword shalt thou live, and thou 

shalt serve thy brother ; 



' 33. Yea, and he shall be blessed. On 

the discovery of the fraud, the aged patriarch 
does not retract the blessing he had pronounced. 
A moment's reflection convinces him that its 
transfer to Jacob was "of the Lord," and now 
therefore irrevocable. 

36. Is not he rightly named Jacob, or 
supplanter (comp. 25 : 26) ? Under the circum- 
stances it was only natural for Esau to be 
greatly disappointed and grieved; still, it was 
not true that Jacob had taken away his birth- 
right — he had voluntarily sold it to him for a 
mess of pottage ; and he seems to have forgotten 
that in the scheme in which he had been en- 
gaged to secure his father's blessing (ver. si) he 
was repudiating the bargain he had made. 

38. And Esau lifted up his voice and 
wept. A pathetic scene — the wild, impulsive, 
sensuous hunter, crying like some trapped 
creature, imploring his blind father to bestow 
the blessing of which by the subtlety of his 
mother and brother he had been deprived. But 
his tears and entreaties were unavailing. The 
past was irreparable. " When he afterward de- 
sired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected 
(for he found no place of repentance), though 
he sought it diligently with tears " (Heb. 12 : 17). 

39. The marginal rendering of this verse, 
which assigns to the preposition (min) a priva- 
tive rather than a partitive sense, is to be pre- 
ferred : 

Behold, away from the fatness of the earth 

shall be thy dwelling, 
And away from the dew of heaven from above ; 
which means, that in contrast to the land of 



Canaan, the descendants of Esau should be 
located in a sterile region. In support of this 
rendering it maybe urged (1) that it is gram- 
matically admissible (see Num. 15 : 24 — " away 
from the eyes of the congregation " ; comp. 
Prov. 20 : 3) ; (2) that it corresponds with the 
country inherited by Esau, which is described 
by ancient and modern writers as excessively 
rocky, unfruitful, and desolate (Mai. 1 : 3) • (3) 
that it agrees with the preceding statement (ver 
28) that every blessing had already been be- 
stowed on Jacob, wherefore Isaac says to Esau 
(ver. 37) : " Behold, I have made him thy lord 
. . . what then shall I do for thee, my son?" 
and (4) that it explains the play upon the same 
expressions: "the fatness of the earth," and 
"the dew of heaven," which, as spoken first to 
Jacob and then to Esau, were intended to desig- 
nate opposite states and conditions. 

40. By thy sword shalt thou live. 
These words lend confirmation to the interpre- 
tation of the preceding verse ; for if a rich and 
fertile country belonged to the Edomites, why 
should they turn aside from the peaceful pur- 
suits of agriculture, and lead a roving and free- 
booting kind of life ? The prediction implies 
that they should subsist by war and plunder, 
which was true of both Esau and his posterity. 
And thou shalt serve thy brother ; 
And it shall come to pass when thou shalt break 



That thou shalt shake his yoke from off thy neck. 
These statements are fully verified in the his- 
torical relation of Edom to Israel, which was 
one of repeated servitude, revolt, and recon- 



182 



GENESIS 



[Ch. XXVIII. 



thou shalt have the dominion, that thou shalt break 
his yoke from off thy neck. 

41 And Esau hated Jacob because of the bless- 
ing wherewith his father blessed him : and Esau 
said in his heart, The days of mourning for my 
father are at hand ; then will I slay my brother 
Jacob. 

42 And these words of Esau her elder son were 
told to Rebekah : and she sent and called Jacob 
her younger son, and said unto him, Behold, thy 
brother Esau, as touching thee, doth comfort him- 
self, purposing to kill thee. 

43 Now therefore, my son, obey my voice ; and 
arise, flee thou to Laban my brother to Haran ; 

44 And tarry with him a few days, until thy 
brother's fury turn away ; 

45 Until thy brother's anger turn away from thee, 
and he forget that which thou hast done to him : 
then I will send, and fetch thee from thence: why 
should I be deprived also of you both in one day ? 

46 And Rebekah said to Isaac, I am weary of my 
life because of the daughters of Heth : if Jacob 
take a wife of the daughters of Heth, such as these 
which are of the daughters of the land, what good 
shall my life do me ? 

CHAPTER 

1 AND Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him, and I 



And it shall come to pass when thou shalt break 

loose, 
That thou shalt shake his yoke from off thy neck. 

41 And Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing 
wherewith his father blessed him : and Esau 
said in his heart, The days of mourning for my 
father are at hand ; then will I slay my brother 

42 Jacob. And the words of Esau her elder son 
were told to Rebekah; and she sent and called 
Jacob her younger son, and said unto him, Be- 
hold, thy brother Esau, as touching thee, doth 

43 comfort himself, purposing to kill thee. Now 
therefore, my son, obey my voice ; and arise, flee 

44 thou to Laban my brother to Haran ; and tarry 
with him a few days, until thy brother's fury 

45 turn away ; until thy brother's anger turn away 
from thee, and he forget that which thou has't 
done to him : then I will send, and fetch thee 
from thence : why should I be bereaved of you 
both in one day ? 

46 And Rebekah said to Isaac, I am weary of my 
life because of the daughters of Heth : if Jacob 
take a wife of the daughters of Heth, such as 
these, of the daughters of the land, what good 
shall my life do me ? 

XXVIII. 

1 AND Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him, and 



quest. At first Esau seemed to prosper more 
than his brother Jacob. The Edomites were an 
independent people while the Israelites were in 
bondage in Egypt ; and kings "reigned in the 
land of Edom, before there reigned any king 
over the children of Israel " (35 : 3i ). But " after 
a long period of independence at the first, the 
Edomites were defeated by Saul (i Sam. u : 47) 
and subjugated by David (2 Sam. 8 : u) - and in 
spite of an attempt at revolt under Solomon 
(1 Kings 11 : 14 seg), they remained subject to the 
kingdom of Judah until the time of Joram, 
when they rebelled. They were subdued again 
by Amaziah (2 Kings n ■ 1), and remained in sub- 
jection under Uzziah and Jotham (2 Kings 14 : 22). 
It was not till the reign of Ahaz that they shook 
the yoke of Judah entirely off (2 Kings 16 : 6 ; 2 
cnron. 2a : 17), without Judah being ever able to 
reduce them again. At length, however, they 
were completely conquered by John Hyrcanus 
about 129 B. C.j compelled to submit to circum- 
cision, and incorporated into the Jewish State 
(Jos., Ant., XIII., 9, 1 ; XV., 7, 9). At a still 
later period, through Antipater and Herod, they 
established an Idunisean dynasty over Judea, 
which lasted till the complete dissolution of the 
Jewish State" (Keil). 

41. Then will I slay my brother Jacob. 
Such was Esau's purpose as soon as the days of 
mourning for his father were come ; that is, im- 
mediately after his father's death, which he 

expected SOOn to OCCUr (see ver. 4 and 7). HoW- 

ever, to save his father from pain, he would 

defer the intended fratricide till after his death. 

45. Why should I be deprived (bereaved) 

of you both in one day? That is, of Jacob 



by the hand of Esau, and of Esau by the hand 

of justice (9:6; comp. 2 Sam. 14 : 6, 7). 

46. I am weary of my life because of 
the daughters of Heth. Rebekah makes 
her trouble on account of Esau's Hittite wives 
and the burden her life would be to her if Jacob 
formed a similar matrimonial alliance, a pre- 
text for sending him to Mesopotamia to obtain a 
wife from her relatives there. The possibility 
of Jacob's finding a wife in that land may have 
been present to Eebekah's thoughts when she 
sought to obtain Isaac's consent to her sending 
him thither ; but her secret reason— the reason 
most cogent in her mind for the step — was that 
he might thus elude the fury of his incensed 
brother. Rebekah rightly assumed that her 
proposal would be agreeable to Isaac : she knew 
that he would favor the idea of Jacob's obtain- 
ing a wife of the pure blood. 



The scene depicted in the foregoing chapter is 
wonderfully true to life, and all the parties are 
seen to speak and act in harmony with their 
several characters. The chapter shows the 
vanity of mere human plans and purposes, and 
how the purpose of God holds its way through 
them all and bends them all to its own accom- 
plishment. 



Chap. 28. Jacob's Flight to Haran 
and Dream in Bethel. 1-5. These words 
record the last passage in the active life of 
Isaac. Jacob now becomes the principal figure 
in the history. 

1. Isaac called Jacob, and blessed 
him. Isaac now renewed to Jacob and in en- 



Ch. XXVIII.] 



GENESIS 



183 



charged him, and said unto him, Thou shalt not 
take a wife of the daughters of Canaan. 

2 Arise, go to Padan-aram, to the house of Bethuel 
thy motiier's father; and take thee a wife from 
thence of the daughters of Laban thy mother's 
brother. 

3 And God Almighty bless thee, and make thee 
fruitful, and multiply thee, that thou mayest be a 
multitude of people ; 

4 And give thee the blessing of Abraham, to thee, 
and to thy seed with thee ; that thou mayest in- 
herit the land wherein thou art a stranger, which 
God gave unto Abraham. 

5 And Isaac sent away Jacob : and he went to 
Padan-aram unto Laban, son of Bethuel the Syrian, 
the brother of Rebekah, Jacob's and Esau's mother. 

6 When Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob, 
and sent him away to Padan-aram, to take him a 
wife from thence ; and that as he blessed him he 
gave him a charge, saying, Thou shalt not take a 
wife of the daughters of Canaan ; 

7 And that Jacob obeyed his father and his 
mother, aud was gone to Padan-aram ; 

8 And Esau seeing that the daughters of Canaan 
pleased not Isaac his father ; 

9 Then went Esau unto Ishmael, and took unto 
the wives which he had Mahalath the daughter of 
Ishmael Abraham's son, the sister of Nebajoth, to 
be his wife. 

10 And Jacob went out from Beer-sheba, and 
went toward Haran. 

•«11 And he lighted upon a certain place, and 
tarried there all night, because the sun was set; 
and he took of the stones of that place, and put 
them for his pillows, and lay down in that place to 
sleep. 
12 And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up 



charged him, and said unto him, Thou shalt not 

2 take a wife of the daughters of Canaan. Arise, 
go to Paddan-aram, to the house of Bethuel thy 
mother's father ; and take thee a wife from 
thence of the daughters of Laban thy mother's 

3 brother. And God Almighty bless thee, and 
make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, that thou 

4 mayest be a company of peoples ; and give thee 
the blessing of Abraham, to thee, and to thy 
seed with thee ; that thou mayest inherit the 
land of thy sojournings, which God gave unto 

5 Abraham. And Isaac sent away Jacob : and he 
went to Paddan-aram unto Laban, son of Bethuel 
the Syrian, the brother of Rebekah, Jacob's and 

6 Esau's mother. Now Esau saw that Isaac had 
blessed Jacob and sent him away to Paddan- 
aram, to take him a wife from thence ; and that as 
he blessed him he gave him a charge, saying, 
Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of 

7 Canaan ; and that Jacob obeyed his father and 

8 his mother, and was gone to Paddan-aram : and 
Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan pleased 

9 not Isaac his father ; and Esau went unto Ish- 
mael, and took unto the wives which he had 
Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael Abraham's 
son, the sister of Nebaioth, to be his wife. 

10 And Jacob went out from Beer-sheba, and 

11 went toward Haran. And he lighted upon a 
certain place, and tarried there all night, be- 
cause the sun was set ; and he took one of the 
stones of the place, and put it under his head, 

12 and lay down in that place to sleep. And he 
dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the 



larged form the blessing he had before unwit- 
tingly given him (27 ■ 27) ; he was now satisfied 
that he, and not Esau, was the one designed by- 
God to receive it. 

2. Go to Padan-aram. (see on24:io; 25:20.) 
The house of Bethuel. The implication 

appears to be that Bethuel still lived; if so, he 
must have been very old, since he was the cousin 
of Isaac, and probably born many years before 

him (see ou 22 : 23). 

3. God Almighty C^ b$ x 'El Shaddai) 
bless thee. By this name God had announced 
himself to Abraham as the wonder-working God 
who would give him a son (n : 1, 16) ; Isaac now, 
therefore, employs it in wishing for Jacob a 
numerous posterity. 

A multitude {company) of people. The 
word /r\p r , qahal, here rendered " company," is 
afterwards used for the congregation or assembly 
of God's people, to which the Greek ecclesia 
answers. 

4. The blessing of Abraham ; that is, 
the blessing repeatedly promised to Abraham, 
and specially recorded in 17 : 6-8 and 22 : 17, 18. 

5. Bethuel the Syrian, or, Aramean; so 
called, because the country in which he dwelt 
had been formerly possessed by the descendants 

Of Aram (see on 25 : 20 ; comp. Hosea 12 : 12). 

9. Then Esau went unto Ishmael; that 
is, to the family of Ishmael, for Ishmael him- 
self had died fourteen years before (comp. 16 : la 



with 21 : 5, and 25 : 17 with note on 27 : l). In marrying 

Mahalath, a daughter of Ishmael (called Ba- 
shemath in 36 : 3), Esau's motive was to concil- 
iate his father and ingratiate himself afresh into 
his favor ; and he may have hoped, though he 
could hardly have expected, hereby to regain the 
inheritance which he had forfeited and despised. 

10. And Jacob went out from Beer- 
sheba, and went toward Haran (in the 
northwestern part of Mesopotamia — see on 11 : 
31). The distance between these places was 
about four hundred and fifty miles, in covering 
which he would pass over the same country 
that Abraham traversed in coming thence (12 : 
6), and over which again Abraham's servant 
passed when a bride was to be procured for 
Isaac. As Jacob was fleeing for his life, and 
that he might not be pursued or waylaid by his 
vindictive brother, he probably deviated from 
the common road, and went by lonely and un- 
frequented paths, which would increase the 
length and dangers of the journey. 

11. He lighted upon a certain place ; 
lit., he chanced upon the place; that is, the 
place appointed for him by God, or more prob- 
ably, the well-known place rendered memorable 
by the extraordinary occurrences related in this 
chapter. See allusion to them in 35 : 1-3 (comp. 

12 : 8; 13 : 2, 3). 

12. Behold a ladder set up on the 
earth. The Hebrew word D-?p, sullam, trans- 



184 



GENESIS 



[Ch. xxyiii. 



on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven : i 
and behold the angels of God ascending and de- 
scending on it. 

13 And, behold, the Lord stood above it, and j 
said, I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, | 
and the God of Isaac : the land whereon thou liest, I 
to thee will 1 give it, and to thy seed ; 

14 And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth ; 
and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to ! 
the east, and to the north, and to the south : and in 
thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the 
earth be blessed. 

15 And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee 
in all places whither thougoest, and will bring thee 
again into this land ; for I will not leave thee, until 
I have done that which I have spoken to thee of. 

16 And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he 
said, Surely the Lord is in this place ; and I knew 
it not. 

17 And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is 
this place ! this is none other but the house of God, 
and this is the gate of heaven. 

18 And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and 
took the stone that he had put for his pillows, and 
set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it. 

19 And he called the name of that place Beth-el : 
but the name of that city ivas called Luz at the first. 



earth, and the top of it reached to heaven : and 
behold the angels of God ascending and descend- 

13 ing on it. And, behold, the Lord stood above 
it, and said, I am the Lord, the God of Abraham 
thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land 
whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to 

14 thy seed ; and thy seed shall be as the dust of 
the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the 
west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the 
south : and in thee and in thy seed shall all the 

15 families of the earth be blessed. And, behold, I 
am with thee, and will keep thee whithersoever 
thou goest, and will bring thee again into this 
land ; for I will not leave thee, until I have done 

16 that which I have spoken to thee of. And Jacob 
awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the 

17 Lord is in this place ; and I knew it not. And 
he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this 
place! this is none other but the house of God, 

18 and this is the gate of heaven. And Jacob rose 
up early in the morning, and took the stone that 
he had put under his head, and set it up for a 

19 pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it. And 
he called the name of that place Beth-el : but 



lated "ladder," occurs only here, and, judging 
from its derivation, would be more correctly 
rendered stairway. Says Doctor Hanna: "In 
approaching Bethel, the hillsides presented fre- 
quently such an exact resemblance to the steps 
of a stair, that it may have been from them 
that the vision of Jacob's ladder was borrowed." 
The vision would be instructive to him of a 
providential agency, invisible, but ever active 
on his behalf. He would gather from it the 
consoling truth that though an exile from his 
native land, and exposed in his journeying to 
roaming wild beasts at night and to lawless 
men prowling for prey by day, "he was yet 
encompassed by the presence and protection of 
his Maker, whose angels pitched their camps 
about his bed, and under the shadow of whose 
wings he might trust." 

13-15. The Lord stood above it, and 
said. The words here addressed to Jacob con- 
stitute the Lord's first revelation to him. In 
them the promises to Abraham (12 : 2, 3; 13 : 14- 
16 ; 22 : is ; 26 : 4) of the land, the seed, and the 
blessing in that seed for the whole race of man, 
are repeated — a repetition making the lonely 
fugitive's relation to Jehovah one with that of 
Abraham, the "friend of God." 

14. In thee and in thy seed. See on 
12:3. 

16. Surely the Lord is in this place; 
and I knew it not. These words must not be 
taken as meaning that Jacob now first learned 
the doctrine of the divine omnipresence. They 
rather indicate his astonishment at finding that 
God revealed himself at other than consecrated 
places, or that God was really present with him 
when he fancied himself alone. 



17. And he was afraid. Such has been 
the experience of many others on a near reve- 
lation Of God (see Exod 20 : 18, 19 ; Job 42 : 5, 6 ; Luke 
6:8; Rev. 1 : 17, 18). 

18. Set it up for a pillar, and poured 
oil apon the top of it. By this act Jacob 
marked the spot as sacred (3i : « ; 85 : u ; josh. 
* = 9). From the earliest time there seems to 
have been some connection in religious thought 
between unction and sanctification. The taber- 
nacle and its furniture, and the priests who 
ministered at it, were all anointed with oil 
(Exod. 30 : 26-30). So the Lord Jesus, to whom 
was given the Spirit without measure (John 3 : 
34), is called the Anointed, the Messiah, the 

Christ (Pa- 2:2; 45 : 7 ; Isa. 61 : 1 ; Dan. 9 : 24, 25 ; Luke 
4 : 18). 

In Jacob's setting up a stone to mark a sacred 
spot, some think they discover the origin of 
cromlechs and all sacred stones. Eusebius and 
other ancient writers refer to the custom which 
prevailed in early times of erecting pillars of 
stone and anointing them with oil as objects of 
idolatrous worship. Clem. Alex. (Stromat., 
Lib. vii., p. 713) speaks of "worshiping every 
oily stone," and Arnobius (Adv. Gentes, Lib. 
i., p. 39), in like manner refers to the worship- 
ing of "a stone smeared with oil, as though 
there were in it a present power." The erec- 
tion of all such stones for worship was forbid- 
den in later times (see Lev. 26 : 1 ; Deut. 12 : 8 ; 16 : 
22). 

19. Bethel, meaning house of God, is situ- 
ated about ten miles north of Jerusalem. It 
appears that Jacob first gave this name to the 
spot where he slept and set up the pillar, which 
was in the vicinity of Luz. Afterward the 



Ch. XXIX.] 



GENESIS 



185 



20 And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will 
be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, 
and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put 
on, 

21 So that I come again to my father's house in 
peace ; then shall the Lord be my God : 

22 And this stone, which I have set for a pillar, 
shall be God's house : and of all that thou shalt 
give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee. 



20 the name of the city was Luz at the first. And 
Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with 
me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and 
will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put 

21 on, so that I come again to my father's house in 

22 peace, then shall the Lord be my God, and this 
stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be 
God's house : and of all that thou shalt give me 
I will surely give the tenth unto thee. 



CHAPTER XXIX. 



1 THEN Jacob went on his journey, and came 
into the land of the people of the east. 

2 And he looked, and behold a well in the field, 
and, lo, there were three flocks of sheep lying by it ; 
for out of that well they watered the flocks : and a 
great stone was upon the well's mouth. 



1 THEN Jacob went on his journey, and came 

2 to the land of the children of the east. And he 
looked, and behold a well in the field, and, lo, 
three flocks of sheep lying there by it ; for out of 
that well they watered the flocks : and the stone 



designation extended to Luz (35 : 6; 48 : 3), and 
was finally substituted for it (Judg. i : 23). In 
Josh. 16 : 2 and 18 : 13, not Bethel, but the 
mountains of Bethel, are distinguished from 
Luz. 

It was at Bethel that Abraham built his sec- 
ond altar on coming into the land of Canaan 
(i» : 7, 8). Here, also, in the following year, he 
encamped in returning from Egypt (is : 3) ; 
though in these passages the writer may have 
mentioned the place by its later name, which 
it bore in his own time. On his return from 
Padan-aram, twenty years after his flight from 
Esau, Jacob lingered at this sacred spot, built 
an altar unto the Lord (35:3), received the 
promises of God, and erected a pillar. It was 
for some time the consecrated place of the ark 
of the covenant (Judg. 20 : 18-26). From Jero- 
boam to Josiah, more than three hundred years, 
it was the seat of the idolatrous worship of the 

golden Calves (I Kings 12 : 28, 29 ; 2 Kings 10 : 28, 29 ; 

23 : is-18), for which reason the prophet Hosea 
(* : 15), alluding to the name given it by Jacob, 
calls it "Beth-aven," the house of vanity; that 
is, of idols, instead of " Bethel," house of God. 

20. If God will be with me. These 
words are not to be taken as meaning that 
Jacob doubted God's promise, or as naming the 
condition or terms on which he would dedicate 
himself to God. They are rather an appropri- 
ation of the promise going before, as if Jacob 
should say: "Let it be according to thy word 
unto thy servant, and thou shalt be mine, and 
I will be thine, forever." 

22. I will surely give the tenth unto 
thee. From this allusion to tithes (comp. 14 : 
20, where they are first mentioned), it is clear 
that the giving of a tenth to God was recog- 
nized before the giving of the law. Jacob ful- 
filled this vow on his return from Padan-aram 
(35 : 6, f). As at this time there were no priests 
of the sanctuary to whom he could give the 
tithe of his goods, it may be supposed that he 



made some such application of it as that which 
took place at the end of three years ( Deut. u : 28, 29) . 



Chap. 29. The Well of Haean. Ja- 
cob's Double Makeiage. 1. Then Jacob 
went on his journey; lit., lifted up his feet 
— "a graphic description of traveling," just as 
"he opened his mouth and taught them" (Matt. 
5 : 2) is a graphic description of teaching. 

The people (children) of the East. By the 
East here is meant Mesopotamia, and the whole 
region beyond the Euphrates (Judg. 6:3; 1 Kings 
i ■. so ; job 1 : s). See on 25 : 20. Between the 
first and second clause of this verse is included 
a journey of four hundred miles. 

2. He looked, and behold a well in 
the field. This was not the well at which 
Abraham's servant met with Bebekah. That 
was an open well approached by steps, in front 
of the town; this was a covered well in the 
fields for the watering of flocks. 

The unvarying customs of the East go far to 
explain the similarity of this story to that re- 
lated in 24 : 11-15. "Who that has traveled 
much in this country has not often arrived at a 
well in the heat of the day which was sur- 
rounded with numerous flocks of sheep waiting 
to be watered ? I once saw such a scene in the 
burning plains of northern Syria. Half-naked, 
fierce-looking men were drawing up water in 
leather buckets; flock after flock was brought 
up, watered, and sent away; and after all the 
men had ended their work, then several women 
and girls brought up their flocks, and drew 
water for them. Thus it was with Jethro's 
daughters ; and thus, no doubt, it would have 
been with Bachel if Jacob had not rolled away 
the stone and watered her sheep" (Land and 
Book, p. 589). 

And a great stone was upon the well's 
mouth, or, the stone upon the %oelVs mouth was 
great. " Most of the cisterns are covered with 
a large, thick, flat stone, in the center of which 



186 



GENESIS 



3 And thither were all the flocks gathered : and 
they rolled the stone from the well's mouth, and 
watered the sheep, and put the stone again upon 
the well's mouth in his place. 

4 And Jacob said unto them, My brethren, 
whence be ye ? And they said, Of Haran are we. 

5 And he said unto them, Know ye Labau the 
son of Nahor ? And they said, We know him. 

6 And he said unto them, Is he well ? And they 
said, He is well : and, behold, Rachel his daughter 
cometh with the sheep. 

7 And he said, Lo, it is yet higli day, neither is it 
time that the cattle should be gathered together : 
water ye the sheep, and go and feed them. 

8 And they said, We cannot, until all the flocks 
be gathered together, and till they roll the stone 
from the well's mouth ; then we water the sheep. 

9 And while he yet spake with them, Rachel 
came with her father's sheep : for she kept them. 

10 And it came to pass, when Jacob saw Rachel 
the daughter of Laban his mother's brother, and the 
sheepof Laban his mother's brother, that Jacob went 
near, and rolled the stone from the well's mouth, and 
watered the flock of Laban his mother's brother. 

11 And Jacob kissed Rachel, and lifted up his 
voice, and wept. 

12 And Jacob told Rachel that he was her father's 
brother, and that he was Rebekah's son : and she 
ran and told her father. 

13 And it came to pass, when Laban heard the 
tidings of Jacob his sister's son, that he ran to meet 
him, and embraced him, and kissed him, and 
brought him to his house. And he told Laban all 
these things. 

14 And Laban said to him, Surely thou art my 
bone and my flesh. And he abode with him the 
space of a month. 



[Ch. XXIX. 



3 upon the well's mouth was great. And thither 
were all the flocks gathered : and they rolled the 
stone from the well's mouth, and watered the 
sheep, and put the stone again upon the well's 

4 mouth in its place. And Jacob said unto them, 
My brethren, whence be ye? And they said, 

5 Of Haran are we. And he said unto them, 
Know ye Laban the son of Nahor ? And they 

6 said, We know him. And he said unto them, Is 
it well with him? And ihey said, It is well: 
and, behold, Rachel his daughter cometh with 

7 the sheep. And he said, Lo, it is yet high dav, 
neither is it time that the cattle should be gath- 
ered together : water ye the sheep, and go and 

8 feed them. And they said, We cannot, until all 
the flocks be gathered together, and they roll 
the stone from the well's mouth ; then we water 

9 the sheep. While he yet spake with them, Ra- 
chel came with her father's sheep ; for she kept 

10 them. And it came to pass, when Jacob saw 
Rachel the daughter of Laban his mother's 
brother, and the sheep of Laban his mother's 
brother, that Jacob went near, and rolled the 
stone from the well's mouth, and watered the 

11 flock of Laban his mother's brother. And Jacob 
kissed Rachel, and lifted up his voice, and wept. 

12 And Jacob told Rachel that he was her father's 
brother, and that he was Rebekah's son : and 

13 she ran and told her father. And it came to 
pass, when Laban heard the tidings of Jacob his 
sister's son, that he ran to meet him, and em- 
braced him, and kissed him, and brought him 
to his house. And he told Laban all these 

14 things. And Laban said to him, Surely thou 
art my bone and my flesh. And he abode with 



a hole is cut, which forms the mouth of the cis- 
tern. This hole, in many instances, Ave found 
covered with a heavy stone, to the removal of 
which two or three men were requisite" (Rob- 
inson, II., p. 180). 

3. Thither were all the flocks gathered. 
That the water might not become vapid by long 
exposure, nor a part of the flocks exhaust the 
supply which was intended for all, it was cus- 
tomary to have all the flocks collected around 
the well before the covering was removed (see 
ver. 8) ; hence the reposing of three flocks at the 
well (ver. 2) till the arrival of Rachel with her 
father's sheep. 

5. Laban the son of Nahor. He was 
really the son of Bethuel and grandson of 
Nahor; but "son" here, according to Hebrew 
usage, stands for grandson or descendant. As 
in chap. 24, so here, Bethuel, Laban's father, 
sinks into the background. 

7. Water ye the sheep, and go and 
feed them. Jacob, though versed in the 
pastoral life, appears to have been unaAvare of 
the rule mentioned above. Possibly he wished 
to get the other shepherds away from the well, 
in order that his interview with Rachel, who 
was momentarily expected, might be more 
private. 

10. When Jacob saw Rachel. He fell 
in love with her at once, on seeing her; and 
with the gallantry and strength which true love 



inspires, he hasted to roll away the stone from 
the well's mouth, and water her flock for her. 
Had he not thus interposed, she might have had 
to AA r ait till all the men had watered their flocks 
and gone (comp. Moses' interposition at the 
well in Midian, Exod. 2 : 17). The thought 
too, of Rachel's relationship to his mother, 
from Avhom he had so recently parted, and 
Avhom Rachel may have resembled, appears to 
have overpowered him. This comes out in 
the thrice-uttered expression: "his mother's 
brother" (comp. "father's brother" and "Re- 
bekah's son " in ver. 12). 

11. Jacob kissed Rachel, and lifted 
up his voice, and wept. Kissing was the 
ordinary form of salutation (see 33 : 4 ■, 45 : 15 ; 48 : 
io). His tears were those of joy, as were 
Joseph's when he made himself known to his 
brethren (45 : u), and met his father (« : 29). 

12. Her father's brother; meaning his 
near kinsman, the term "brother," according 
to the practice of the East, standing for remote 
degrees of relationship, as uncle, cousin, or 
nephew. 

13. He told Laban all these things; 
that is, probably, the various events of his 
journey, his father's blessing and command to 
marry a wife of his mother's kindred, and per- 
haps also the cause of his exile from home. 

14. He abode with him the space of a 
month; lit., a month of days; that is, a full 



Ch. XXIX.] 



GENESIS 



187 



15 And Laban said unto Jacob, Because thou art 
my brother, shouldest thou therefore serve ine for 
nought? tell me, what shall thy wages bet 

16 And Laban had two daughters : the name of 
the elder was Leah, and the name of the younger 
ivas Rachel. , , „ , , 

17 Leah was tender eyed ; but Rachel was beauti- 
ful and well favoured. 

18 And Jacob loved Rachel ; and said, I will serve 
thee seven years for Rachel thy younger daughter. 

19 And Laban said, It is better that I give her to 
thee, than that I should give her to another man : 
abide with me. _ 

20 And Jacob served seven years for Rachel ; and 
they seemed unto him but a few days, for the love 
he had to her. 

21 And Jacob said unto Laban, Give me my wife, 
for my days are fulfilled, that I may go in uuto 
her. 

22 And Laban gathered together all the men of 
the place, and made a feast. 

23 And it came to pass in the evening, that he 
took Leah his daughter, and brought her to him ; 
and he went in unto her. 

24 And Laban gave unto his daughter Leah Zil- 
pah his maid for a handmaid. 



15 him the space of a month. And Laban said unto 
Jacob, Because thou art my brother, shouldest 
thou therefore serve me for nought? tell me, 

16 what shall thy wages be? And Laban had two 
daughters : the i ame of the elder was Leah, and 

17 the name of the younger was Rachel. And 
Leah's eyes were tender ; but Rachel was beau- 

18 tiful and well favoured. And Jacob loved 
Rachel; and he said, I will serve thee seven 

19 years for Rachel thy younger daughter. And 
Laban said, It is better that I give her to thee, 
than that I should give her to another man : 

20 abide with me. And Jacob served seven years 
for Rachel ; and they seemed unto him but a 

21 few days, for the love he had to her. And Jacob 
said unto Laban, Give me my wife, for my days 

22 are fulfilled, that I may go in unto her. And 
Laban gathered together all the men of the 

23 place, and made a feast. And it came to pass in 
the evening, that he took Leah his daughter, 
and brought her to him ; and he went in unto 

24 her. And Laban gave Zilpah his handmaid unto 



month, during which Jacob served Laban with- 
out remuneration. 
15. Tell me, what shall thy wages be? 

Laban was unwilling to have his relative con- 
tinue his services without compensation, and at 
the end of the month asked him to fix his 
wages. 

17. Leah was tender-eyed, or, Leah's 
eyes were tender; that is, weak and dull — in 
other words, not clear and lustrous. She lacked 
thus what in the East is accounted the chief 
feature of beauty. On the contrary, Rachel 
was equally attractive in face and figure ( i Sam. 

16:12; Song of Songs 4:1). 

18. I will serve thee seven years for 
Rachel. 1 As Jacob was not in a position to 
give the customary dowry for Rachel, or the 
usual presents to her relatives, he proposed, in 
place of these, to serve Laban seven years for 

her (comp. 24 : 53 ; 34 : 12 ; 1 Sam. 18 : 23-26 ; Hosea 3:2), 

This custom still prevails among the Bedouins. 
(See Burkhardt, Travels in Syria.) The wife 
who was freely given up by her father, without 
receiving any compensation for her, was the 
more highly esteemed, and the more disposed 
to stand on her dignity and assert her rights 

(see 16 : 5, 6 ; 21 : 9-11 ; comp. 31 : 15). 

20. They seemed unto him but a few 
days, for the love he had to her. The 

import of the words seems to be that Jacob's 



seven years of service glided imperceptibly 
away, cheered as they were by the constant 
presence, and sweetened by the daily conver- 
sation, of his beloved. 

21. Give me my wife ; that is, his be- 
trothed, affianced wife, for the nuptials were 
not yet celebrated. When the time came for 
Jacob to receive his wife, Laban fraudulently 
substituted for her his eldest daughter, Leah. 
As the bride was conducted to the bed of her 
husband in darkness, and covered from head to 
foot with a veil (24 : 65), this deception could be 
easily accomplished. The substitution of Leah 
for Rachel, while indefensible on Laban's part, 
was a deserved punishment of Jacob— a punish- 
ment of sin by sin. The result of Laban's 
fraudulent act was that Jacob, who would have 
been content and happy with Rachel only, be- 
came in eight days the husband of two wives. 
It was possibly with reference to this history 
that the marrying of two sisters was forbidden, 
also the favoring of one wife above another 

(Deut. 21 : 15-17). 

24. Laban gave unto his daughter 
Leah Zilpah his maid for a handmaid. 

"It is still customary in the East for a father, 
who can afford it, to transfer to his daughter, 
on her marriage, some female slave of his house- 
hold, who becomes her confidential domestic 
and humble friend in her new home, but not 



1 It is difficult not to be suspicious of the commonly accepted chronology which makes Jacob to have 
been eighty-four when he married Leah and Rachel, that is, forty-four years after the marriage of Esau 
(26 : 34), whereas the narrative seems to imply that Jacob's fleeing to Radan-arani occurred soon after 
Esau's marriage, and not thirty-seven years after. "Moreover, chap. 28 : 9 assumes that Ishmael was 
alive when Jacob was sent off. But he was one hundred and fourteen years old when Esau Avas married, 
and lived in all one hundred and thirty-seven years, so that he died when Jacob was sixty-three or sixty- 
four. Jacob must therefore have gone to Mesopotamia long before, and was probably just over forty when 
he did so " (see on 27 : 1). 



188 



GENESIS 



[Ch. XXX. 



25 And it came to pass, that in the morning, be- 
hold, it was Leah: and he said to Laban, What is 
this thou hast done unto me ? did not I serve with 
thee for Rachel ? wherefore then hast thou beguiled 
me? 

26 And Laban said, It must not be so done in our 
country, to give the younger before the firstborn. 

27 Fulfil her week, and we will give thee this also 
for the service which thou shalt serve with me yet 
seven other years. 

28 And Jacob did so, and fulfilled her week : and 
he gave him Rachel his daughter to wife also. 

29 And Laban gave to Rachel his daughter Bilhah 
his handmaid to be her maid. 

30 And he went in also unto Rachel, and he loved 
also Rachel more thah Leah, and served with him 
yet seven other years. 

31 And when the Lord saw that Leah was hated, 
he opened her womb : but Rachel was barren. 

32 And Leah conceived, and bare a son ; and she 
called his name Reuben : for she said, Surely the 
Lord hath looked upon mv affliction ; now there- 
fore my husband will love me. 

33 And she conceived again, and bare a son ; and 
said, Because the Lord hath heard that I ivas 
hated, he hath therefore given me this soil also : 
and she called his name Simeon. 

34 And she conceived again, and bare a son ; and 
said, Now this time will my husband be joined 
unto me, because I have borne him three sons : 
therefore was his name called Levi. 

35 And she conceived again, and bare a son ; and 
she said, Now will I praise the Lord : therefore she 
called his name Judah ; and left bearing. 



25 his daughter Leah for an handmaid. And it 
came to pass in the morning that, behold, it was 
Leah : and he said to Laban, What is this thou 
hast done unto me ? did not I serve with thee 
for Rachel? wherefore then. hast thou beguiled 

26 me? And Laban said, It is not so done in our 
place, to give the younger before the firstborn. 

27 Fulfil the week of this one, and we will give thee 
the other also for the service which thou shalt 

28 serve with me yet seven other years. And Jacob 
did so, and fulfilled her week : and he gave him 

29 Rachel his daughter to wife. And Laban gave 
to Rachel his daughter Bilhah his handmaid to 

30 be her handmaid. And he went in also unto 
Rachel, and he loved also Rachel more than 
Leah, and served with him yet seven other 
years. 

31 And the Lord saw that Leah was hated, and 
he opened her womb: but Rachel was barren. 

32 And Leah conceived, and bare a son, and she 
called his uame Reuben : for she said, Because 
the Lord hath looked upon my affliction ; for 

33 now my husband will love me. And she con- 
ceived again, and bare a son ; and said, Because 
the Lord hath heard that I am hated, he hath 
therefore given me this son also : and she called 

34 his name Simeon. And she conceived again, 
and bare a son ; and said, Now this time will 
my husband be joined unto me, because I have 
borne him three sons : therefore was his name 

35 called Levi. And she conceived again, and bare 
a son : and she said, This time will I praise the 
Lord : therefore she called his name Judah ; 
and she left bearing. 



CHAPTER XXX 



1 AND when Rachel saw that she bare Jacob no 
children, Rachel envied her sister ; and said unto 
Jacob, Give me children, or else I die. 



1 AND when Rachel saw that she bare Jacob no 
children, Rachel envied her sister ; and she said 
unto Jacob, Give me children, or else I die. 



the less a slave." Such handmaidens had be- 
fore been given to Rebekah, and had accom- 
panied her to the land of Canaan (24 : 6i). 

27. Fulfil her week, or, the week of this 
one ; that is, of Leah ; a week of feastings, ac- 
cording to the custom of weddings (Judg. u : 12 ; 
Tobit 11 : is), after which Rachel would be given 
to him, on condition of his serving seven years 
more. 

31. Leah was hated; that is, less loved 
than Rachel. The verb KJttf, sana, to hate, is 
sometimes used to denote a less degree of love 
(Deut. 21 : 15). Thus Mai. 1 : 3 and Luke 14 : 26 
are to be explained. Considering the part that 
Leah played with her father in the deception 
that was practised upon Jacob, it was only 
natural that he should regard her with less 
affection than he did Rachel. Still, as Leah be- 
came the mother of children — an honor and a 
joy for a long time denied to Rachel, his feelings 
toward her became more kindly (3i : 4, 14 ; 49 : 31) . 

32-35. Leah's state of mind is indicated by 
the names she gave her sons, of whom four were 
born to her in rapid succession : (1) Reuben, 
"see, a son!" whose birth she regarded as a 
special mark of Jehovah's favor, for now her 
husband would love her ; (2) Simeon, " hear- 
ing," for Jehovah had again heard her prayer ; 
(3) Levi, "joining," for said she: "Now this 



time will my husband be joined to me," that is, 
attached by a constant affection; (4) Judah, 
" praised," for now, looking away from herself, 
she would praise Jehovah for his signal favors 
to her. And well she might, for in the birth of 
Judah she became the ancestress of the Messiah. 
35. She left bearing ; that is, for a time, 
for according to the following chapter she had 
three children more. 

Chap. 30. 1-24. Birth of Other 
Children to Jacob. 1. Rachel envied 
her sister. The polygamy into which Jacob, 
by the force of circumstances was driven, re- 
sulted, as always, in mutual jealousy and 
domestic infelicity. Each of his wives strongly 
desired what she had not : Leah, her husband's 
love, and Rachel, children. Among the He- 
brews it was counted a high honor to fill the 
maternal relation, children being regarded as a 
mark of the divine favor (ps. 127 : 3-5; 123 : 3, 4), 
while the want of that status was deemed a 
stigma and deplored as a calamity. In this 
case, Rachel's envy was doubtless sharpened by 
the fear that, though the favorite and elected 
wife of Jacob, she might because of her child- 
lessness lose her place in his affections. 

Give me children, or else I die ; lit., 
and if not, I am a dead woman — must be reck- 



Ch. XXX] 



GENESIS 



189 



2 And Jacob's anger was kindled against Rachel ; 
and he said, Am I in God's stead, who hath with- 
held from thee the fruit of the womb ? 

3 And she said, Behold my maid Bilhah, go in 
unto her ; and she shall bear upon my knees, that I 
may also have children by her. 

4 And she gave him Bilhah her handmaid to 
wife : and Jacob went in unto her. 

5 And Bilhah conceived, and bare Jacob a son. 

6 And Rachel said, God hath judged me, and 
hath also heard my voice, and hath given me a 
son : therefore called she his name Dan. 

7 And Bilhah Rachel's maid conceived again, 
and bare Jacob a second son. 

8 And Rachel said, With great wrestlings have I 
wrestled with my sister, and I have prevailed : and 
she called his name Naphtali, 

9 When Leah saw that she had left bearing, she 
took Zilpah her maid, and gave her Jacob to wife. 

10 And Zilpah Leah's maid bare Jacob a son. 

11 And Leah said, A troop cometh : and she called 
his name Gad. 

12 And Zilpah Leah's maid bare Jacob a second 
son. 

13 And Leah said, Happy am I, for the daughters 
will call me blessed: and she called his name 
Asher. 

14 And Reuben went in the days of wheat har- 
vest, and found mandrakes in the field, and brought 
them unto his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to 
Leah, Give me, I pray thee, of thy son's mandrakes. 

15 And she said unto her, 7s it a small matter 
that thou hast taken my husband? and wouldest 
thou take away my son's mandrakes also? And 
Rachel said, Therefore' he shall lie with thee to 
night for thy son's mandrakes. 



2 And Jacob's anger was kindled against Rachel : 
and he said, Am I in God's stead, who hath with- 

3 held from thee the fruit of the womb ? And she 
said, Behold my maid Bilhah, go in unto her ; 
that she may bear upon my knees, and I also 

4 may obtain children by her. And she gave him 
Bilhah her handmaid to wife : and Jacob went in 

5 unto her. And Bilhah conceived, and bare 

6 Jacob a son. And Rachel said, God hath judged 
me, and hath also heard my voice, and hath 
given me a son : therefore called she his name 

7 Dan. And Bilhah Rachel's handmaid conceived 

8 again, and bare Jacob a second son. And Rachel 
said, With mighty wrestlings have I wrestled 
with my sister, and have prevailed : and she 

9 called his name Naphtali. When Leah saw that 
she had left bearing, she took Zilpah her hand- 

10 maid, and gave her to Jacob to wife. And Zil- 

11 pah Leah's handmaid bare Jacob a son. And 
Leah said, Fortunate! and she called his name 

12 Gad. And Zilpah Leah's handmaid bare Jacob 

13 a second son. And Leah said, Happy am I ! for 
the daughters will call me happy : and she 

14 called his name Asher. And Reuben went in 
the days of wheat harvest, and found mandrakes 
in the field, and brought them unto his mother 
Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, Give me, I 

15 pray thee, of thy son's mandrakes. And she said 
unto her, Is it a small matter that thou hast 
taken away my husband? and wouldest thou 
take away my son's mandrakes also ? And Ra- 
chel said, Therefore he shall lie with thee to- 



oned as good as dead, or pine away from de- 
jection. In view of the promise to Abraham of 
a numerous posterity, in whom should be blessed 
all the families of the earth, motherhood became 
a laudable ambition with Hebrew women. 

2. Am I in God's stead? that is, am I all 
powerful, that I should give thee what the Al- 
mighty has Withheld? (see 50 : 19 ; comp. 2 Kings 5 : 

<). Rachel deserved the rebuke she received 
from Jacob; she knew better than she spoke 
(ver. 6). Her conduct contrasts unfavorably 
with that of Rebekah (25 : 22) and of Hannah (1 

Sam. 1 : 11 )„ 

3. Behold my maid Bilhaho In giving 
Bilhah to Jacob, Rachel followed the example 
of Sarah with regard to Hagar (16 : 2) } but with- 
out Sarah's excuse, for there was now no ques- 
tion of an heir for Jacob. 

And she shall (that she may) bear upon 
my knees, instead of the birth-stool then in 
use, that so Rachel might claim the offspring as 
her own. As the handmaid was the sole prop- 
erty of her mistress, so her children, under this 
arrangement, became hers also. Hence the 
words of Rachel, when Bilhah bore a son: 
"God hath judged me, and hath also heard my 
voice, and hath given me a son" (see 50:23; 

comp. Job 3 : 12), 

That (and) I also may have children 

by her ; lit., be builded by her. (See on 16 : 2.) 
6* Dan ; meaning judge (or, he judges), be- 



cause God had vindicated her cause by removing 
the reproach of childlessness. 

8. Naphtali; that is, my wrestling, because 
in competition with her sister and rival for the 
divine favor, she had wrestled with God in 
prayer. 

9-13. When Leah ceased bearing (29:35)— 
fearing probably that she might lose ground in 
her husband's affections, and noting the success 
which had attended Rachel's bestowal of her 
maid on Jacob— she adopted the plan of her sis- 
ter, and gave him Zilpah her maid to wife. 
Two sons were born. 

11. Gad ; that is, fortunate, or good fortune, 
for she said, 1J3, bagadh, "with good fortune," 
or, adopting the marginal reading, "U&O, ba- 
gadh, "good fortune has come," which gives 
the better sense. 

13. Asher ; that is, happy. The Hebrew is 
"■"^fcp, beasheri, lit., in my happiness, for the 
daughters will call me happy; that is, a happy 

mother (comp. Prov. 31 : 28 ; Song of Sol. 6:9; Luke 1 : 48) . 

14-16. Mandrakes (Heb. 9 dudaim), is 
mentioned in the Scriptures only here and in 
Song of Sol. 7 : 13. 

This plant is of the same family as the potato, 
and grows flat on the ground, its leaves resem- 
bling those of a primrose. It bears a round yel- 
low fruit with a soft pulp, the size of a large plum. 

Rachel evidently shared the popular super- 
stitious belief that this plant, when eaten 



190 



GENESIS 



[Ch. XXX. 



16 And Jacob came out of the field in the evening, 
and Leah went out to meet him, and said, Thou 
must come in unto me ; for surely I have hired thee 
with my son's mandrakes. And he lay with her 
that night. 

17 And God hearkened unto Leah, and she con- 
ceived, and bare Jacob the fifth son. 

18 And Leah said, God hath given me my hire, 
because I have given my maiden to my husband : 
and she called his name Issachar. 

19 And Leah conceived again, and bare Jacob the 
sixth son. 

20 And Leah said, God hath endued me with a good 
dowry ; now will my husband dwell with me, be- 
cause I have borne him six sons : and she called 
his name Zebulun. 

21 And afterwards she bare a daughter, and 
called her name Dinah. 

22 And God remembered Rachel, and God heark- 
ened to her, and opened her womb. 

23 And she conceived, and bare a son ; and said, 
God hath taken away my reproach : 

24 And she called his name Joseph ; and said, 
The Lord shall add to me another son. 

25 And it came to pass, when Rachel had borne 
Joseph, that Jacob said unto Laban, Send me away, 
that I may go unto mine own place, and to my 
country. 

26 Give me my wives and my children, for whom 
I have served thee, and let me go : for thou knowest 
my service which I have done thee. 

27 And Laban said unto him, I pray thee, if I 
have found favour in thine eyes, tarry : for I have 
learned by experience that the Lord hath blessed 
me for thy sake. 



16 night for thy son's mandrakes. And Jacob came 
from the field in the evening, and Leah went out 
to meet him, and said, Thou must come in unto 
me ; for I have surely hired thee with my son's 
mandrakes. And he lay with her that night. 

17 And God hearkened unto Leah, and she con- 

18 ceived, and bare Jacob a fifth son. And Leah 
said, God hath given me my hire, because I gave 
my handmaid to my husband: and she called 

19 his name Issachar. And Leah conceived again, 

20 and bare a sixth son to Jacob. And Leah said, 
God hath endowed me with a good dowry ; now 
will my husband dwell with me, because I have 
borne him six sons : and she called his name 

21 Zebulun. And afterwards she bare a daughter, 

22 and called her name Dinah. And God remem- 
bered Rachel, and God hearkened to her, and 

23 opened her womb. And she conceived, and bare 
a son : and said, God hath taken away my re- 

24 proach : and she called nisname Joseph, saying, 
the Lord add to me another son. 

25 And it came to pass, when Rachel had borne 
Joseph, that Jacob said unto Laban, Send me 
away, that I may go unto mine own place, and 

26 to my country. Give me my wives and my 
children for whom I have served thee, and let 
me go : for thou knowest my service wherewith 

27 I have served thee. And Laban said unto him, 
If now I have found favour in thine eyes, tarry : 
for I have divined that the Lord hath blessed 



ensured conception. God, however, would con- 
vince the two sisters that, apart from him, 
sterility could not be cured with mandrakes, 
nor fruitfulness delayed without them. Rachel's 
barrenness continued at least two years longer, 
while another son was immediately given to 
Leah. From ver. 15 it would seem that Jacob 
habitually lived with Rachel at this time. 

17-21. In answer to her prayer (ver. it) Leah 
now bore another, her fifth, son, and she called 
his name Issachar, from IDp, sakhar, to hire^ 
because she had hired her husband by giving 
the mandrakes to Rachel, and had received her 
son as a hire or reward for giving her maid to 
her husband. 

20. Zebulun ; that is, dwelling, for now 
she hoped that, having borne her husband six 
sons, he would dwell with her. 

21. Dinah; meaning judgment. As ap- 
pears from 37 : 35 and 46 : 7, Jacob had several 
daughters ; but Dinah only is mentioned here to 
prepare for the history in chap. 34 — an evidence 
of unity of plan. 

22-24. God hearkened to her. These 



words seem to imply that better thoughts had 
now come to Rachel — that prayer had now taken 
in her heart the place of envy and jealousy of her 
sister. She now bore, in the fourteenth year of 
Jacob's servitude, a son, whom she called Jo- 
seph, in which name also there was a double 
reference. She first said: God hath taken 
away (^DN, asaph) my reproach ; and then: 
The Lord shall add ( r |p , r, yosaph) to me 
another son. 1 

25-43. Jacob's New Contract with La- 
ban. 25-28. Having completed his term of 
servitude, and wishing to provide an inde- 
pendence for his own family (ver. 30), Jacob 
announces to Laban his intention of returning 
to Canaan. 

27. I have learned by experience (I 
have divined, from E/T12, nachash, to hiss as a 
serpent, hence to augur) that the Lord hath 
blessed me for thy sake. Laban's house- 
hold was not free from idolatrous and heathenish 
practices (comp. si .- 19, 32). His religion appears 
to have been a compound of heathen ideas with 
a dim knowledge of Jehovah. The wonderful 



1 As conflicting with the unity of the preceding paragraph (29 : 31 to 30 : l-24) r it is alleged by some 
of the critics that eleven sons could not have been born to Jacob in seven years. But this allegation 
assumes that, beginning with Leah, each of the four mothers ceased bearing before the next began, 
whereas, to a certain extent, they bore simultaneously. In other words, the births of these eleven sons 
are related not in the order of time, but as grouped around their respective mothers. " The six sons of 
Leah might be born in the seven years, allowing one year's complete cessation from pregnancy, namely, 
the fifth ; Bilhah's in the third and fourth years ; Zilpah's in the beginning of the sixth and seventh ; and 
Rachel's toward the end of the seventh, leaving Dinah to be born later." (Pulpit Commentary.) 



Ch. XXX.] 



GENESIS 



191 



28 And he said, Appoint me thy wages, and I will 
give it. 

29 And he said unto him, Thou knowest how I 
have served thee, and how thy cattle was with me. 

30 For it ivas little which thou hadst before I 
came, and it is now increased unto a multitude ; 
and the Lord hath blessed thee since my coming : 
and now, when shall I provide for mine own house 
also? 

31 And he said, What shall I give thee? And 
Jacob said, Thou shalt not give me any thing : if 
thou wilt do this thing for me, I will again feedemd 
keep thy flock. 

32 I will pass through all thy flock to day, re- 
moving from thence all the speckled and spotted 
cattle, and all the brown cattle among the sheep, 
and the spotted and speckled among the goats: 
and of such, shall be my hire. 

33 So shall my righteousness answer for me in 
time to come, when it shall come for my hire be- 
fore thy face : every one that is not speckled and 
spotted among the goats, and brown among the 
sheep, that shall be counted stolen with me. 

34 And Laban said, Behold, 1 would it might be 
according to thy word. 

3$ And he removed that day the he goats that 
were ringstreaked and spotted, and all the she 
goats that were speckled and spotted, and every 
one that had some white in it, and all the brown 
among the sheep, and gave them into the hand of 
his sons. 

36 And he set three days' journey betwixt him- 
self and Jacob : and Jacob fed the rest of Laban's 
flocks. 

37 And Jacob took him rods of green poplar, and 
of the hazel and chestnut tree ; and pilled white 



28 me for thy sake. And he said, Appoint me thy 

29 wages, and I will give it. And he said unto 
him, Thou knowest how I have served thee, and 

30 how thy cattle hath fared with me. For it was 
little which thou hadst before I came, and it 
hath increased unto a multitude ; and the Lord 
hath blessed thee whithersoever I turned : and 
now when shall I provide for mine own house 

31 also? And he said, What shall I give thee? 
And Jacob said, Thou shalt not give me aught : 
if thou wilt do this thing for me, I will again 

32 feed thy flock and keep it. I will pass through 
all thy flock to-day, removing from thence every 
speckled and spotted one, and every black one 
among the sheep, and the spotted and speckled 
among the goats : and of stick shall be my hire. 

33 So shall my righteousness answer for me here- 
after, when thou shalt come concerning my hire 
that is before thee : every one that is not speckled 
and spotted among the goats, and black among 
the sheep, that if found with me shall be counted 

34 stolen. And Laban said, Behold, I would it 

35 might be according to thy word. And he re- 
moved that day the he-goats that were ring- 
straked and spotted, and all the she-goats that 
were speckled and spotted, every one that had 
white in it, and all the black ones among the 
sheep, and gave them into the hands of his sons : 

36 and he set three days' journey betwixt himself 
and Jacob : and Jacob fed the rest of Laban's 

37 flocks. And Jacob took him rods of fresh pop- 
lar, and ol the almond and of the plane tree ; 



increase of Laban's stock under Jacob's manage- 
ment had led the former to set a high value 
upon the latter's services. 

28. Appoint me thy wages (lit., dis- 
tinctly specify thy hire upon me; that is, which 
I will take as binding upon me), and I will 
give it. In order to secure the continued serv- 
ices of his nephew, Laban assumes toward him 
an air of great candor and liberality, which 
Jacob's previous experience with Laban, in the 
matter of contracts, would enable him to take at 
their true value. 

31. And Jacob said, Thou shalt not 
give me any thing, viz., a definite fixed 
amount, to be named beforehand, but a certain 
amount of the increase or produce of the flock. 

32. I will pass through all thy flock 
to-day. In the East the sheep are generally 
white, very rarely black or spotted, and the 
goats generally black or brown, rarely speckled 
with white. Jacob's proposal is "to separate 
from the flock all the spotted and speckled 
sheep and goats, which would be comparatively 
few, and to tend only that part of the flock 
which was pure white or black. He is then to 
have for his hire only those lambs and kids, 
born of the unspeckled flock, which themselves 
should be marked with spots and speckles and 
ringstrakes. Laban naturally thinks that these 
will be very few ; so he accepts the offer, and 
to make matters the surer, he removes all the 



spotted and ringstraked goats, and all the sheep 
with any brown in them, three days' journey 
from the flock of white sheep and brown goats 
to be left under Jacob's care (see ver. 35, 36), lest 
any of them might stray into Jacob's flock, and 
so be claimed by him, or any lambs or kids 
should be born like them in Jacob's flock." 

Such shall be my hire; that is, for the 
year's service, as appears from the subsequent 
narrative in the thirty-seventh and following 
verses. A division was made every year ; hence 
Laban's repeated change of the terms of the 
contract, complained of by Jacob in 31 : 6, 7. 

33. So shall my righteousness (that is, 
the rectitude of my conduct, or, better, perhaps, 
the righteousness of my cause) answer for me 
hereafter ; that is, it shall be my vindication — 
I will trust to it for my reward. 

When it shall come for my hire before 
thy face ; better, when thou shalt come con- 
cerning my hire; that is, when the matter of 
my wages shall come before thee for adjust- 
ment, from year to year. 

37-43. In order to produce abnormal colors 
in the new-born animals, and thus enlarge his 
own share of the annual increase, Jacob had 
recourse to a device which he had learned by 
observation, or from others, It was to place in 
the drinking-troughs, to which the flock came 
to drink, and in front of the animals, partially 
peeled and therefore mottled rods of the storax, 



192 



GENESIS 



[Ch. XXXI. 



streaks in them, and made the white appear which 
was in the rods. 

38 And he set the rods which he had pilled 
before the flocks in the gutters in the watering 
troughs when the flocks came to drink, that they 
should conceive when they came to drink. 

39 And the flocks conceived before the rods, and 
brought forth cattle ringstreaked, speckled, and 
spotted. 

40 And Jacob did separate the lambs, and set the 
faces of the flocks toward the ringstreaked, and all 
the brown in the flock of Laban ; and he put his 
own flocks by themselves, and put them not unto 
Laban's cattle. 

41 And it came to pass, whensoever the stronger 
cattle did conceive, that Jacob laid the rods before 
the eyes of the cattle in the gutters, that they might 
conceive among the rods. 

42 But when the cattle were feeble, he put them 
not in : so the feebler were Laban's, and the 
stronger Jacob's. 

43 And the man increased exceedingly, and had 
much cattle, and maidservants, and menservants, 
and camels, and asses. 



and peeled white strakes in them, and made the 

8 white appear which was in the rods. And he 
set the rods which he had peeled over against 
the flocks in the gutters in the watering troughs 
where the flocks came to drink ; and they con- 

9 ceived when they came to drink. And the 
flocks conceived before the rods, and the flocks 
brought forth ringstraked, speckled, and spotted. 

| 40 And Jacob separated the lambs, and set the faces 
of the flocks toward the ringstraked and all the 
black in the flock of Laban ; and he put his own 
droves apart, and put them not unto Laban's 

41 flock. And it came to pass, whensoever the 
stronger of the flock did conceive, that Jacob 
laid the rods before the eyes of the flock in the 
gutters, that they might conceive among the 

42 rods ; but when the flock were feeble, he put 
them not in: so the feebler were Laban's, and 

43 the stronger Jacob's. And the man increased 
exceedingly, and had large flocks, and maid- 
servants and menservants, and camels and 



CHAPTER XXXI 



1 AND he heard the words of Laban's sons, say- 
ing, Jacob hath taken away all that was our fath- 
er's ; and of that which was our father's hath he 
gotten all this glory. 

2 And Jacob beheld the countenance of Laban, 
and, behold, it ivas not toward him as before. 

3 And the Lord said unto Jacob, Return unto the 
land of thy fathers, and to thy kindred ; and I will 
be with th'ee. 

4 And Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to 
the field unto his flock, 

5 And said unto them, I see your father's counte- 
nance, that it is not toward me as before ; but the 
God of my father hath been with me. 

6 And ye know that t with all my power I have 
served your father. 



1 AND he heard the words of Laban's sons, sav- 
ing, Jacob hath taken away all that was our 
father's ; and of that which was our father's 

2 hath he gotten all this glory. And Jacob beheld 
the countenance of Laban, and, behold, it was 

3 not toward him as beforetime. And the Lord 
said unto Jacob, Return unto the land of thy 
fathers, and to thy kindred ; and I will be with 

4 thee. And Jacob sent and called Rachel and 

5 Leah to the field unto his flock, and said unto 
them, I see your father's countenance, that it is 
not toward me as beforetime; but the God of 

6 my father hath been with me. And ye know 
that with all my power I have served your 



almond, and plane tree, that through the in- 
fluence of these upon the animals, when copu- 
lation took place at the drinking time, their 
young might be speckled and spotted. That 
any strong impression upon the female at the 
time of copulation, and during the period of 
gestation, has a corresponding influence upon 
her offspring, seems to he an established fact, 
which has been frequently noticed, especially 
among the sheep. The learned Bochart, in his 
Hierozoicon, or "Scripture Zoology," has col- 
lected many proofs on the subject (I., 618). 

Then, further (ver. 40), Jacob separated the 
speckled animals thus obtained from those of a 
normal color, and so placed the latter that the 
former would be constantly in sight, that thus 
the same effect might be produced on the ewes 
as had been produced by the peeled wands. 
The sense of the verse is somewhat obscure. 
Its apparent inconsistency with ver. 36 has led 
some commentators to suspect a corruption in 
the text. The difficulty vanishes, however, 
when "the flock of Laban" is taken to mean, 
not that flock which Laban had separated by 
three days' journey from Jacob, but those of 
uniform color in the flock of Laban that was 
tended by Jacob. 



Moreover (ver. 41, 42) f Jacob appears to have 
employed his stratagem only when the more 
vigorous animals were brought to the watering 
place, omitting it when the weaker ones came, 
the consequence being that the stronger and 
healthier portion of the flock became his, and 
the feebler Laban's. [The writer simply gives 
the facts and passes no judgment of any kind 
upon the moral character of Jacob's action. 
The inference as to its nature must be drawn 
from what follows.] 



Chap. 31. Jacob's Flight from Padan- 
aram. 1. He heard the words of Laban's 
sons. [By rumor it came to his ears. Jacob's 
great increase of wealth in cattle aroused the 
jealousy of Laban's sons. Laban's countenance 
also was no longer as friendly as it had been 
(ver. 2).] Jacob hath taken away all that 
was our father's. [An extravagant statement 
to justify their discontent at the outcome of La- 
ban's agreement and, probably, an evil purpose.] 

4. Jacob sent and called Rachel and 
Leah. Rachel, as the beloved wife, is named 
first, as in ver. 14. [Jacob called them to him 
in the field probably to avoid arousing Laban's 
suspicion as to his intention.] 



Ch. XXXI.] 



GENESIS 



193 



7 And your father hath deceived me, and changed 
ray wages ten times ; but God suffered him not to 
hurt me. 

8 If he said thus, The speckled shall be thy 
wages ; then all the cattle bare speckled : and if he 
said thus, The ringstreaked shall be thy hire ; then 
bare all the cattle ringstreaked. 

9 Thus God hath taken away the cattle of your 
father, and given them to me. 

10 And it came to pass at the time that the cattle 
conceived, that I lifted up mine eyes, and saw in a 
dream, and, behold, the rams which leaped upon 
the cattle were ringstreaked, speckled, and griz- 
zled. 

11 And the angel of God spake unto me in a 
dream, saying, Jacob : and I said, Here am I. 

12 And he said. Lift up now thine eyes, and see, 
all the rams which leap upon the cattle are ring- 
streaked, speckled, and grizzled : for I have seen 
all that Laban doeth unto thee. 

13 I am the God of Beth-el, where thou anointedst 
the pillar, and where thou vowedst a vow unto me : 
now arise, get thee out from this land, and return 
unto the laud of thy kindred. 

14 And Rachel and Leah answered and said unto 
him, Is there yet any portion or inheritance for us 
in our father's house ? 

15 Are we not counted of him strangers? for he 
hath sold us, and hath quite devoured also our 
money. 

16 For all the riches which God hath taken from 
our father, that is ours, and our children's: now 
then, whatsoever God hath said unto thee, do. 

17 Then Jacob rose up, and set his sons and his 
wives upon camels ; 

18 And he carried away all his cattle, and all his 
"goods which he had gotten, the cattle of his get- 
ting, which he had gotten in Padan-aram, for to go 
to Isaac his father in the land of Canaan. 

19 And Laban went to shear his sheep: and 
Rachel had stolen the images that were her father's. 



7 father. And your father hath deceived me, and 
changed my wages ten times ; but God suffered 

8 him not to hurt me. If he said thus, The speck- 
led shall be thy wages ; then all the flock bare 
speckled : and if he said thus, The ringstraked 
shall be thy wages ; then bare all the flock ring- 

9 straked. Thus God hath taken away the cattle 

10 of your father, and given them to me. And it 
came to pass at the time that the flock con- 
ceived, that I lifted up mine eyes, and saw in a 
dream, and, behold, the he-goats which leaped 
upon the flock were ringstraked, speckled, and 

11 grisled. And the angel of God said unto me in 

12 a dream, Jacob : and I said, Here am I. And 
he said, Lift up now thine eyes, and see, all the 
he-goats which leap upon the flock are ring- 
straked, speckled, and grisled : for I have seen 

13 all that Laban doeth unto thee. I am the God 
of Beth-el, where thou anointedst a pillar, 
where thou vowedst a vow unto me : now arise, 
get thee out from this land, and return unto the 

14 land of thy nativity. And Rachel and Leah 
answered and said unto him, Is there yet any 
portion or inheritance for us in our father's 

15 house ? Are we not counted of him strangers ? 
for he hath sold us, and hath also quite devoured 

16 our money. For all the riches which God hath 
taken away from our father, that is ours and our 
children's : now then, whatsoever God hath said 

17 unto thee, do. Then Jacob rose up, and set his 

18 sons and his wives upon the camels; and he 
carried away all his cattle, and all his substance 
which he had gathered, the cattle of his getting, 
which he had gathered in Paddan-aram, for to 
go to Isaac his father unto the land of Canaan. 

19 Now Laban was gone to shear his sheep : and 
Rachel stole the teraphim that were her father's. 



7. Ten times; that is, many times, as in 
Num. 14 : 22; Job 19 : 3— ten, as a round num- 
ber, expressing the idea of completeness. 

10-13. Two dreams are referred to in these 
verses. The first, related in ver. 10, appears to 
have occurred at or near the beginning of his 
final arrangement with Laban; the second — 
the more significant of the two — at, or near its 
close. The last part of ver. 13, containing the 
divine direction to return home, repeats the 
same direction found in ver. 3. [The fact that 
the increase of Jacob's flocks is referred in this 
chapter to the divine favor and in the preced- 
ing to the use of means, does not imply different 
authorship. Jacob evidently thought it was 
only through God's blessing that the means 
were successful. In speaking to his wives he 
but mentions the divine favor without referring 
to the means through which the blessing came.] 

10. Grisled, D ,r }^, bheruddim, from Tia, 
baradh, to scatter hail; that is, hail-spotted 
animals, or animals marked with white spots, 
like hailstones on a dark ground. The term is 
found twice again in Zech. 6 : 3, 6, where it de- 
scribes bay horses mottled with white. 

11. The angel of God spake unto me. 

(See on 16 : 7 and 21 : 17.) 

13. I am the God of Beth-el; that is, 
N 



the God who appeared to thee at Bethel (28 = 12). 
The expression would remind Jacob of God's 
promises to him, and of his promises to God. 

14. Rachel and Leah answered. The 
sisters are no longer envious of each other. The 
treatment they had received from their father 
made them as desirous of a separation from 
him as was Jacob. 

15. He hath sold us ; their allusion being 
to their father's giving them to Jacob as wages 
for his service. 

Hath quite devoured also our money ; 
lit., hath eaten up, and goes on to eat up our 
money. By their "money" is meant the por- 
tions to which, as the daughters of a chieftain, 
they were entitled. 

19. Rachel had stolen the images {tera- 
phim) that were her father's. The teraphim 
were of human form, but whether of full length 
or only busts has been much doubted. In 1 Sam. 
19 : 13 (where the plural form probably de- 
notes a single image), Michal puts teraphim in 
David's bed to deceive the messengers of Saul ; 
which looks as if the image was of full life 
size. In the present instance they (or it) must 
have been smaller, since Eachel could hide 
them under the camel's saddle (ver. u). They 
were worshiped as gods (ver. 30 ; Judg. is : 24). 



194 



GENESIS 



[Ch. XXXI. 



20 And Jacob stole away unawares to Laban the 
Syrian, in that he told him not that he fled. 

21 So he fled with all that he had ; and he rose 
up, and passed over the river, and set his face 
toward the mount Gilead. 

22 And it was told Laban on the third day, that 
Jacob was fled. 

23 And he took his brethren with him, and pur- 
sued after him seven days' journey ; and they 
overtook him in the mount Gilead. 

24 And God came to Laban the Syrian in a dream 
by night, and said unto him, Take heed that thou 
speak not to Jacob either good or bad. 

25 Then Laban overtook Jacob. Now Jacob had 
pitched his tent in the mount: and Laban with his 
brethren pitched in the mount of Gilead. 

26 And Laban said to Jacob, What hast thou 
done, that thou hast stolen away unawares to me, 
and carried away my daughters, as captives taken 
with the sword ? 

27 Wherefore didst thou flee away secretly, and 
steal away from me ; and didst not tell me, that I 
might have sent thee away with mirth, and with 
songs, with tabret, and with harp ? 

28 And hast not suffered me to kiss my sons and 
my daughters? thou hast now done foolishly in so 
doing. 

29 It is in the power of my hand to do you hurt : 
but the God of your father spake unto me yester- 



20 And Jacob stole away unawares to Laban the 
Syrian, in that he told him not that he fled. 

21 So he fled with all that he had ; and he rose up, 
and passed over the River, and set his face 
toward the mountain of Gilead. 

22 And it was told Laban on the third day that 

23 Jacob was fled. And he took his brethren with 
him, and pursued after him seven days' journey ; 
and he overtook him in the mountain of Gilead. 

24 And God came to Laban the Syrian in a dream 
of the night, and said unto him, Take heed to 
thyself that thou speak not to Jacob either good 

25 or bad. And Laban came up with Jacob. Now 
Jacob had pitched his tent in the mountain : 
and Laban with his brethren pitched in the 

26 mountain of Gilead. And Laban said to Jacob, 
What hast thou done, that thou hast stolen away 
unawares to me, and carried away my daughters 

27 as captives of the sword ? Where'fore didst thou 
flee secretly, and steal away from me ; and didst 
not tell me, that I might have sent thee away 
with mirth and with songs, with tabret and 

28 with harp ; and hast not suffered me to kiss my 
sons and [my daughters? now hast thou done 

29 foolishly. It is in the power of my hand to do 
you hurt : but the God of your father spake unto 



Their worship was not recognized as legitimate 

(see 2 Kings 23 : 24 ; comp. 35 : 4 and Hosea 3 : 4). The 

etymology of the name is yet unsettled. The 
motive of Kachel's theft has been as much 
debated as the origin of the word and the use 
of the images. They were always regarded as 
household oracles to reveal hidden things (Judg. 
is : 5 ; Zecn. io : 2 ; Ezek. 21 : 21 ) 5 and as bringing pros- 
perity, which perhaps best explains Laban's 
eagerness to recover them, and Bachel's deter- 
mination to keep them. (Comp. Judg. 18 : 17, 
where the Danites take Micah's household gods. ) 

20. Jacob stole away unawares to 
lifftb^n ; lit., stole the heart of Laban; that is, 
deceived his mind and intelligence — outwitted 
him. 

21. The river; that is, the Euphrates, 
called by preeminence the river (comp. i Kings 4 : 

21; Ezra 4 : 10, 16). 

The mount Gilead. So called by an- 
ticipation. The name was first given by Jacob 
himself to the round heap of stones (ver. 4T), 
and was ultimately extended to the adjoining 
mountains and district. 

24. Take heed to thyself that thou 
speak not to Jacob either good or bad. 
Laban's having taken some of his kinsmen with 
him seems to indicate that he was bent on using 
violence. The same is implied in the warning 
received by Laban in his dream, which must 
not be taken as prohibitive of his speaking at 
all to Jacob, but as meaning that he should not 
interfere with him or in any way oppose him. 
The supernatural admonition had the effect of 
checking, but not of altogether appeasing, 
Laban's anger. 



25-30. Laban, having overtaken Jacob, 
pitched his tent in the vicinity of the eminence 
on which the latter had encamped. 

26. Laban said to Jacob, What hast 
thou done ? Laban says not a word about 
his property — drops entirely the charge con- 
tained in ver. 1, and, with an air of injured in- 
nocence, proceeds to accuse Jacob on two other 
grounds. He first complains that Jacob had 
deprived him of the satisfaction of giving his 
sons (grandsons) and daughters the usual salu- 
tations at parting. The language implies that 
it was already customary in the East, when 
friends were setting out on a long journey, to 
accompany them with music and valedictory 
songs. Considering the past conduct of Laban 
and the testimony of his daughters as to his 
treatment of them, his complaint on this ground 
was hypocritical cant. Delitzsch styles it "pa- 
ternal affection and hypocrisy intermingled." 
His second charge is a graver one — that of theft : 
"Thou hast stolen my gods." To the first of 
these charges Jacob replies that he " was afraid : 
for I said, Lest thou shouldest take thy daugh- 
ters from me by force." In meeting the second, 
he is stirred with indignation, and, not suspect- 
ing his favorite wife, he boldly challenges a 
search, denouncing death on the culprit when 
found. 

27. With tabret, and with harp. These 
were the accompaniments of mirth and festivity 
(comp. Job 21 : 12). This is the first mention of the 
" tabret." The original word is ^Tl, toph, 
meaning a kind of hand-drum or tambourine 

(comp. Exod. 15 : 20; Judg. 11 : 34 ; Jer. 31 : 4). At this 

day the same instrument is known in Egypt, 



Ch. XXXI.] 



GENESIS 



195 



night, saying, Take thou heed that thou speak not 
to Jacob either good or bad. 

30 And now, though thou wouldest needs be gone, 
because thou sore longedst after thy father's house, 
yet wherefore hast thou stolen my gods? 

31 And Jacob answered and said to Laban, Be- 
cause I was afraid : for I said, Peradventure thou 
wouldest take by force thy daughters from me. 

32 With whomsoever thou rindest thy gods, let 
him not live: before our brethren discern thou 
what is thine with me, and take it to thee. For 
Jacob knew not that Rachel had stolen them. 

33 And Laban went into Jacob's tent, and into 
Leah's tent, and into the two maidservants' tents ; 
but he found them not. Then he went out of Leah's 
tent, and entered into Rachel's tent. 

34 Now Rachel had taken the images, and put 
them in the camel's furniture, and sat upon them. 
And Laban searched all the tent, but found them not. 

35 And she said to her father, Let it not displease 
my lord that I cannot rise up before thee ; for the 
custom of women is upon me. And he searched, 
but found not the images. 

36 And Jacob was wroth, and chode with Laban : 
and Jacob answered andsaidtoLabau, What is my 
trespass ? what is my sin, that thou hast so hotly 
pursued after me? 

37 Whereas thou hast searched all my stuff, what 
hast thou found of all thy household stuff ? set it 
here before my brethren and thy brethren, that 
they may judge betwixt us both. 

38 This twenty years have I been with thee ; thy 
ewes and thy she goats have not cast their young, 
and the rams of thy flock have I not eaten. 

39 That which was torn of beasts I brought not 
unto thee ; I bare the loss of it ; of my hand didst 
thou require it, whether stolen by day, or stolen by 
night. 

40 Thus I was ; in the day the drought consumed 
me, and the frost by night ■ and my sleep departed 
from mine eyes. 

41 Thus have I been twenty years in thy house : 
I served thee fourteen years for thy two daughters, 
and six years for thy cattle ; and thou hast changed 
my wages ten times. 

42 Except the God of my father, the God of Abra- 
ham, and the fear of Isaac, had been with me, 
surely thou hadst sent me away now empty. God 
hath seen mine affliction and the labour of my 
hands, and rebuked thee yesternight. 

43 And Laban answered and said unto Jacob, 
These daughters are my daughters, and these chil- 
dren are my children, and these cattle are my cattle, 
and all that thou seest is mine : and what can I do 
this day unto these my daughters, or unto their 
children which they have borne ? 



Syria, and Arabia, by the corresponding name 
doff. 

38. (comp. ver. 4i.) This twenty years have 
I been with thee. Most expositors under- 
stand the twenty years referred to in ver. 38 to 
be the same as the twenty spoken of in ver. 41 
as consisting of fourteen and six. Doctor Ken- 
nicott, regarding the twenty years of ver. 38 as 
having intervened between the fourteen and six 
of ver. 41, makes the entire sojourn of Jacob in 
Padan-aram to have been forty years. [The 
reasons in support of his view, although ac- 
cepted by a number of quite eminent scholars, 
seem anything but conclusive.] 

39. That which was torn of beasts I 
brought not unto thee. Shepherds are held 
strictly responsible for losses in the flock, unless 
they can prove that these were occasioned by 



me yesternight, saying, Take heed to thyself 
that' thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad. 

30 And now, though thou wouldest needs be gone, 
because thou sore longedst after thy father's 
house, yet wherefore hast thou stolen my gods? 

31 And Jacob answered and said to Laban, Because 
I was afraid : for I said, Lest thou shouldesttake 

32 thy daughters from me by force. With whom- 
soever thou rindest thy gods, he shall not live : 
before our brethren discern thou what is thine 
with me, and take it to thee. For Jacob knew 

33 not that Rachel had stolen them. And Laban 
went into Jacob's tent, and into Leah's tent, 
and into the tent of the two maidservants ; but 
he found them not. And he went out of Leah's 

34 tent, and entered into Rachel's tent. Now Ra- 
chel had taken the teraphim, and put them in 
the earners furniture, and sat upon them. And 
Laban felt about all the tent, but found them 

35 not. And she said to her father, Let not my lord 
be angry that I cannot rise up before thee ; for 
the manner of women is upon me. And he 

36 searched, but found not the teraphim. And 
Jacob was wroth, and chode with Laban : and 
Jacob answered and said to Laban, What is my 
trespass? what is my sin, that thou hast hotly 

37 pursued after me ? Whereas thou hast felt about 
all my stuff, what hast thou found of all thy 
household stuff ? Set it here before my brethren 
and thy brethren, that they may judge betwixt 

38 us two This twenty years have I been with 
thee ; thy ewes and thy she-goats have not cast 
their young, and the rams of thy flocks have I 

39 not eaten. That which was torn of beasts I 
brought not unto thee ; I bare the loss of it ; of 
my hand didst thou require it, whether stolen by 

40 day or stolen by night. Thus I was ; in the day 
the drought consumed me, and the frost by 

41 night ; and my sleep fled from mine eyes. These 
twenty years have I been in thy house ; I served 
thee fourteen years for thy two daughters, and 
six years for thy flock : and thou hast changed 

42 my wages ten times. Except the God of my 
father, the God of Abraham, and the Fear of 
Isaac, had been with me, surely now hadst thou 
sent me away empty. God hath seen mine afflic- 
tion and the labour of my hands, and rebuked 

43 thee yesternight. And Laban answered and said 
unto Jacob, The daughters are my daughters, 
and the children are my children, and the flocks 
are my flocks, and all that thou seest is^jpe : 
and what can I do this day unto these my daugh- 
ters, or unto their children which they have 



wild beasts (see enactment covering this case in 
Exod. 22 : 13 ; comp. Amos 3 : 12). 

40. In the day the drought consumed 
me, and the frost by night. In many parts 
of the East, oppressively hot days are often 
followed by exceedingly chilly nights. Says 
Doctor Hackett (Illustrations of Scripture) : 
" It happened to me frequently to need all the 
precaution I could adopt, in order to guard 
against the cold at night, even when the heat 
of the preceding day had been as great as could 
well be borne." 

42. The fear of Isaac ; that is, by met- 
onymy, the God whom Isaac feared, loved, and 
obeyed. 

43. These daughters are my daughters 
. . . and what can I do this day unto 
these my daughters? Laban, returning to 



196 



GENESIS 



[Ch. XXXI. 



44 Now therefore come thou, let us make a cove- 
nant, I and thou ; and let it be for a witness between 
me and thee. 

45 And Jacob took a stone, and set it up for a 
pillar. 

46 And Jacob said unto his brethren, Gather 
stones; and they took stones, and made a heap: 
and they did eat there upon the heap. 

47 And Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha : but 
Jacob called it Galeed. 

48 And Laban said, This heap is a witness be- 
tween me and thee this day. Therefore was the 
name of it called Galeed, 

49 And Mizpah ; for he said, The Lord watch 
between me and thee, when we are absent one 
from another. 

50 If thou shalt afflict my daughters, or if thou 
shalt take other wives beside my daughters, no 
man is with us ; see, God is witness betwixt me and 
thee. 

51 And Laban said to Jacob, Behold this heap, 
and behold this pillar, which I have cast betwixt 
me and thee ; 

52 This heap be witness, and this pillar be witness, 
that I will not pass over this heap to thee, and that 
thou shalt not pass over this heap and this pillar 
unto me, for harm. 

53 The God of Abraham, and the God of Nahor, 
the God of their father, judge betwixt us. And 
Jacob sware by the fear of his father Isaac. 

54 Then Jacob offered sacrifice upon the mount, 



44 borne? And now come, let us make a covenant, 
I and thou ; and let it be for a witness between 

45 me and thee. And Jacob took a stone, and set 

46 it up for a pillar. And Jacob said unto his 
brethren, Gather stones ; and they took stones, 
and made an heap : and they did eat there by 

47 the heap. And Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha : 

48 but Jacob called it Galeed. And Laban said, 
This heap is witness between me and thee this 
day. Therefore was the name of it called 

49 Galeed : and Mizpah, for he said, The Lord 
watch between me and thee, when we are ab- 

50 sent one from another. If thou shalt afflict my 
daughters, and if thou shalt take wives beside 
my daughters, no man is with us ; see, God is 

51 witness betwixt me and thee. And Laban said 
to Jacob, Behold this heap, and behold the pil- 
lar, which I have set betwixt me and thee. 

52 This heap be witness, and the pillar be witness, 
that I will not pass over this heap to thee, and 
that thou shalt not pass over this heap and this 

53 pillar unto me, for harm. The God of Abraham, 
and ithe God of Nahor, the God of their father, 
judge betwixt us. And Jacob sware by the Fear 

54 of his father Isaac. And Jacob offered a sacri- 



a better mind, now seeks to bring about a recon- 
ciliation with Jacob, but in doing so endeavors 
to make it appear that he is moved entirely by 
generous feelings. He says virtually: "God 
has given you many things, but remember they 
were all mine, and you have obtained them 
under me. I have come a long distance and 
possess a great force ; but I cannot find it in 
my heart to hurt my own children. Come, let 
us make a covenant, and be good friends." 

45. Jacob took a stone, and set it up 
for a pillar. Jacob allows Laban's boasting 
to pass, and proceeds at once to set up a stone 
as a memorial, thus showing his earnest desire 
to be on friendly terms with his father-in-law, 
notwithstanding the ill-treatment he had re- 
ceived at his hands. "The way in which this 
covenant was ratified was by a heap of stones 
being laid in a circular pile, to serve as seats, 
and in the center of this circle a large one was 
set up perpendicularly for an altar. It is prob- 
able that a sacrifice was first offered, and then 
that the feast of reconciliation was partaken of 
by both parties seated on the stones around it. 
To this day heaps of stones, which have been 
used as memorials, are found abundantly in the 
region where this transaction took place." 

46. Brethren. Laban's sons, who had 
come with their father. 

47. 1$} . . . K£VnnD ^» Jegar-saha- 
dhutha . . . Galeed. The names given re- 
spectively by Laban and Jacob to the heap of 
stones — the first being Aramaic, a sister dialect 
of the Hebrew, meaning mound of testimony; 



the second, Hebrew, with the same meaning. 
It thus appears that at this time Laban spoke 
Syriac and Jacob Hebrew. 

[Keil, Delitzsch, and Bleek think Abraham 
acquired Hebrew in Canaan ; Jerome and 
Augustine that Laban had changed his speech 
from that of his ancestors, and others that the 
different words used by Jacob and Laban were 
but dialectic differences.] 

49. Mizpah ; that is, watch-tower, for he 
said : "The Lord watch between me and thee, 
when we are hidden (that is, far removed) from 
one another." In the course of time a town 
sprang up near the place where the heap had 
been erected (Judg. io : n), which received its 
name from the pile of witness erected by Laban 
and his kinsmen, and which afterward became 
celebrated as the residence of Jephthah (Judg. 
ii = 34) and the seat of the sanctuary (Judg. n : n). 
In Judg. 11 : 29 it is called " Mizpeh of Gilead," 
and many writers regard it as identical with 
Ramoth in Gilead (Josh. 21 : 38) and also with 
Ramath-mizpeh (Josh, is : 26). 

53. The God of Abraham, and the God 
of Nahor, the God (or gods) of their 
father, judge betwixt us. As the verb 
judge is in the plural in the original, it may be 
inferred that Laban regarded the God of Abra- 
ham as different from the God of Nahor. La- 
ban, whose religion was a medley of falsehood 

and truth (see 30 : 2T and above, ver. 19, 30 ; comp. Josh. 

a* : 2), couples the God of Abraham (Jehovah) 
with the God of Nahor and Terah, and calls on 
both to witness and judge, while Jacob swears 



Ch. XXXII.] 



GENESIS 



197 



and called his brethren to eat bread : and they did 
eat bread, and tarried all night in the mount. 

55 And early in the morning Laban rose up, and 
kissed his sons and his daughters, and blessed 
them : and Laban departed, and returned unto his 
place. 



lice in the mountain, and called his brethren to 
eat bread : and they did eat bread, and tarried 
55 all night in the mountain. And early in the 
morning Laban rose up, and kissed his sons and 
his daughters, and blessed them: and Laban 
departed, and returned unto his place. 



CHAPTER XXXII. 



1 AND Jacob went on his way, and the angels of 
God met him. 

2 And when Jacob saw them, he said, This is 
God's host : and he called the name of that place 
Mahanaim. 

3 And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau 
his brother unto the land of Seir, the country of 
Edom. 

4 And he commanded them, saying. Thus shall 
ye speak unto my lord Esau ; Thy servant Jacob 
saith thus, 1 have sojourned with Laban, and 
stayed there until now : 

5 And I have oxen, and asses, flocks, and men- 
servants, and womenservants : and I have sent to 
tell my lord, that I may find grace in thy sight. 

6 And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, 



only by the true God, whom his father Isaac 
feared. 1 

Chap. 32. The Camp of God and Ja- 
cob's "Wrestling. 1. Jacob went on his 
way; that is, in a southerly direction, toward 
the Jabbok (▼«. 22). 

The angels of God met him= Jaoob, 
having been delivered from Laban, was now in 
great trepidation at the thought of meeting 
Esau (to. "), especially when he learned that 
he was coming to meet him with four hundred 
men (™r 6). In this crisis "the angels of God" 
appeared to him, and he was hereby encouraged 
to believe that he who had delivered, would 
deliver, thus making good the promise (» : is): 
" Behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in 
all places whither thou goest, and will bring 
thee again into this land." As twenty years 
before God's angels had met him at Bethel, and 
accompanied him, so to speak, in his flight from 
Canaan, so now he felt assured that they would 
be his escort back to Canaan, and protect him 
in his approaching contest with his brother (Pa. 
91 : 11 ; neb. i:u). Whether Jacob saw the angel 
hosts when awake, or in a midnight dream 
(comp. 2 Kings 6 : it) is uncertain ; the best-sup- 
ported view is that of a waking condition and 
an objective manifestation. 

2. This is God ? s host; lit., the camp or 



1 AND Jacob went on his way, and the angels 

2 of God met him. And Jacob said when he saw 
them. This is God's host: and he called the 
name of that place Mahanaim. 

3 And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau 
his brother unto the land of Seir, the field of 

4 Edom. And he commanded them, saying. Thus 
shall ye say unto my lord Esau ; Thus saith thy 
servant Jacob, I have sojourned with Laban, 

5 and stayed until now : and I have oxen, and 
asses and flocks, and menservants and maid- 
servants : and I have sent to tell my lord, that 

6 I may find grace in thy sight. And the mes- 



army of God (i Sam. 14:15; Ps. 27 : 3) as opposed 
to the " bands" of Jacob himself (▼«■ 7, 10). 

3Iahanaim ; that is, two hosts or camps, 
namely, his own company and the heavenly 
host he had just met (ps. 34 •. 7). Mahanaim was 
situated on the borders of the territory of Gad 
(jobU. 13 : 26, 30). It lay probably to the north of 
the Jabbok, was a Levitical city (Josh. 21 : ss), 
and one of the most important towns in Gilead 

(see 2 Sam. 2:8; 17 : 24, 27 ; 1 Kings 4 : 14), Its site 

has not yet been certainly ascertained, though 
Bobinson identifies it with Mahneh, a deserted 
ruin six or seven miles northwest by north of 
Ajlun (Mount Gilead), and about twenty miles 
from the Jabbok (see Bobinson, Vol. III., App., 
p. 166). 

3. The land of Seir («* on 1* : 6). Edom, 
the later name of the region, was "the narrow 
mountainous tract (about a hundred miles long 
by twenty broad) extending along the eastern 
side of the Arabah, from the northern end of 
the gulf of Elah to the southern end of the Bed 

Sea " (see on 25 : 30 : comp. 86 : 8 ; Dent. 2:5; Josh. 24 : 4), 

5. I have oxen, etc. Thus intimating to 
Esau, that though he received the birthright 
and the blessing, he desired nothing more — 
stood in need of nothing more — either from him 
or their father Isaac ; which assertion he con- 
firms by sending a large present to Esau, calling 
him his lord (comp. ver. is). 



i "There is," says the bishop of Ely. " a very marked unity of purpose throughout this chapter in the 
use of the names of the Most High, utterly inconsistent with the modern notion of a diversity of authors, 
according to some not fewer than four, in the different portions of the same chapter. To Jacob he is 
Jehovah (ver. 3), and the God of his father (ver. 5). etc., whilst Laban acknowledges him as the God of 
Jacob's father (ver. 29). Once more Jacob refers to him as the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac 
(ver. 42), by appeal to whom it was but likely that Laban would be moved ; and lastly, Laban, being so 
moved, himself appeals to the watchfulness of Jehovah (ver. 49), but yet joins with "him, as possibly a 
distinct being, the God of their common ancestor Nahor." 



198 



GENESIS 



[Ch. XXXII. 



We came to thy brother Esau, and also he cometh 
to meet thee, and four hundred men with him. 

7 Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed : 
and he divided the people that ivas with him, and 
the flocks, and herds, and the camels, into two 
bands ; 

8 And said, If Esau come to the one company, 
and smite it, then the other company which is left 
shall escape. 

9 And Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham, 
and God of my father Isaac, the Lord which saidst 
unto me, Return unto thy country, and to thy kin- 
dred, and I will deal well with thee: 

10 I am nut worthy of the least of all the mer- 
cies, and of all the truth, which thou hast shewed 
unto thy servant ; for with my staff I passed over 
this Jordan ; and now I am become two bands. 

11 Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my 
brother, from the hand of Esau : for I fear him, 
lest he will come and smite me, and the mother 
with the children. 

12 And thou saidst, I will surely do thee good, 
and make thy seed as the sand of the sea, which 
cannot be numbered for multitude. 

13 And he lodged there that same night; and 
took of that which came to his hand a present for 
Esau his brother ; 

14 Two hundred she goats and twenty he goats, 
two hundred ewes and twenty rams, 

15 Thirty milch camels with their colts, forty 
kine and ten bulls, twenty she asses and ten foalw. 

16 And he delivered them into the hand of his 
servants, every drove by themselves ; and said 
unto his servants, Pass over before me, and put 
a space betwixt drove and drove. 

17 And he commanded the foremost, saying 
When Esau my brother raeeteth thee ; and asketh 
thee, saying, Whose art thou? and whither goest 
thou? and whose are these before thee? 

18 Then thou shalt say, They be thy servant Ja- 
cob's ; it is a present sent unto my lord Esau : and, 
behold, also he is behind us. 

19 And so commanded he the second, and the 
third, and all that followed the droves, saying, 
On this manner shall ye speak unto Esau, when ye 
find him. 

20 And say ye moreover, Behold, thy servant 
Jacob is behind us. For he said, I will appease 
him with the present that goeth before me, and 
afterward I will see his face ; peradventure he will 
accept of me. 



sengers returned to Jacob, saying, We came to 
thy brother Esau, and moreover he cometh to 
meet thee, and four hundred men with him. 

7 Then Jacob was greatly afraid and was dis- 
tressed : and he divided the people that was 
with him, and the flocks, and the herds, and 

8 the camels, into two companies; and he said, 
If Esau come to the one company, and smite it, 
then the company which is left shall escape. 

9 And Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham, 
and God of my father Isaac, O Lord, which 
saidst unto me, Return unto thy country, and 

10 to thy kindred, and I will do thee good : I am 
not vvorthy of the least of all the mercies, and 
of all the truth, which thou hast shewed unto 
thy servant ; for with my staff I passed over 
this Jordan ; and now I am become two com- 

11 panies. Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand 
of my brother, from the hand of Esau : for I 
fear him, lest he come and smite me, the mother 

12 with the children. And thou saidst. I will 
surely do thee good, and make thy seed as the 
sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for 

13 multitude. And he lodged there that night ; 
and took of that which he had with him a 

14 present for Esau his brother ; two hundred she- 
goats and twenty he-goats v two hundred ewes 

15 and twenty rams, thirty milch camels and their 
colts, forty' kine and ten bulls, twenty she-asses 

16 and ten foals. And he delivered them into the 
hand of his servants, every drove by itself ; and 
said unto his servants, Pass over before me, and 

17 put a space betwixt drove and drove. And he 
commanded the foremost, saying, When Esau 
my brother meeteth thee, and asketh thee, say- 
ing, Whose art thou? and whither goest thou? 

18 and whose are these before thee? then thou 
shalt say, They be thy servant Jacob's; it is a 
present sent unto my lord Esau: and, behold, 

19 he also is behind us. And he commanded also 
the second, and the third, and all that followed 
the droves, saying, On this manner shall ye 

20 speak unto Esau when ye find him ; and ye 
shall say, Moreover, behold, thy servant Jacob 
is behind us. For he said, I will appease him 
with the present that goeth before me, and after- 
ward I will see his face ; peradventure he will 



6. Four hundred men with him. Thus 
showing that he was already a powerful chief- 
tain, and living by the sword (see on n i 40), 
Esau does not appear at this time to have re- 
moved his household from Canaan (36:6), he 
had not yet permanently settled in Seir ; still 
the place is here (ver. 3) called " the field of 
Edom," because, probably, it bore this name 
long before Moses wrote. As preparatory to his 
later occupation of the country, he may now 
have been driving out or subjugating the 
Horites, which best explains, perhaps, his ap- 
pearing at the head of the four hundred armed 
men. 

9-12. Jacob was now face to face with an 
enemy from whom he could not retreat, and 
with whom he dared not risk an encounter. 
Under the circumstances he felt that he needed 
the help of an arm that was more than human. 
Dividing, therefore, his caravan into two bands, 
in the hope that if Esau attacked one, the other 



might escape, he betook himself to prayer. 
The prayer he offered on this occasion was one 
of singular beauty and piety, being at once 
humble and bold, simple and sublime, brief 
and comprehensive. It begins with an. invoca- 
tion to God, not as an impersonal force, but as 
a living personality, who, as Jehovah, had 
entered into covenant with his fathers Abra- 
ham and Isaac, had given them precious prom- 
ises of which he was the heir, and had specially 
appeared unto himself (28 : is ; si : 3, is) ; and it 
ends with a repetition in sense of the Bethel 
promise, which likened his descendants to the 
dust of the earth, just as Abraham's had been 
previously likened to the same dust (is : 16), to 
the stars of heaven (15 : 5), and to the sand upon 
the seashore (22 : it). 

13-20. After praying for success, Jacob 
makes a selection of that which came to his 
hand, that is, of the animals in his possession 
(ver. is), a present for Esau. While putting his 



Ch. XXXII.] 



GENESIS 



199 



21 So went the present over before him ; and 
himself lodged that night in the company. 

22 And he rose up that night, and took his two 
wives, and his two womenservants, and his eleven 
sons, and passed over the ford Jabbok. 

23 And he took them, and sent them over the 
brook, and sent over that he had. 

24 And Jacob was left alone ; and there wrestled 
a man with him until the breaking of the day. 

25 And when he saw that he prevailed not 
against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh ; 
and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint, 
as he wrestled with him. 

26 And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. 
And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou 
fol6ss ro6. 

27 And he said unto him, What is thy name? 
And he said, Jacob. 

28 And he said, Thy name shall be called no 
more Jacob, but Israel : for as a prince hast 



21 accept me. So the present passed over before 
him: and he himself lodged that night in the 
company. 

22 And he rose up that night, and took his two 
wives, and his two handmaids, and his eleven 
children, and passed over the ford of Jabbok. 

2P) And he took them, and sent them over the 

24 stream, and sent over that he had. And Jacob 
was left alone ; and there wrestled a man with 

25 him until the breaking of the day. And when 
he saw that he prevailed not against him, he 
touched the hollow of his thigh ; and the hollow 
of Jacob's thigh was strained, as he wrestled 

26 with him. And he said, Let me go, for the day 
breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, 

27 except thou bless me. And he said unto him, 

28 What is thy name? And he said, Jacob. And 
he said, Thy name shall be called no more Ja- 
cob, but Israel : for thou hast striven with God 



trust in God, he is careful to omit no means of 
propitiating his brother that lay in his power. 
The animals, numbering five hundred and fifty, 
he divides into five droves, and instructs each 
drover to repeat the same words to Esau (ver. is) ; 
"They be thy servant Jacob's; it is a present 
sent unto my lord Esau : and, behold, he also 
is behind us." This gift, thus presented, would 
certainly have the effect of mollifying Esau's 
anger, if it still existed (Prov. 21 : 14). He would 
naturally conclude, as drove after drove came 
up, that Jacob's possessions were endless, and 
that his generosity was as boundless as his 
wealth. 

21-23. After sending forward the present of 
cattle to Esau, Jacob then puts his wives and 
children (lit., caused them to pass) over the 
Jabbok, that is, to the south side of the Jabbok, 
while he himself remains on the north side. 

The name Jabbok is derived either from PP3, 
baqag, "to pour or gush forth," from the pre- 
cipitate character of the stream, or, as others 
think, from P^tf, 'abhaq, "to wrestle," from the 
wrestling of Jacob. It is a rapid stream, dry in 
its upper sources in summer, but perennial to- 
Avard its mouth, and in winter often impassable. 
It flows into the Jordan about half-way between 
the Dead Sea and the sea of Galilee, at a point 
nearly opposite to Shechem. It is now called 
the Zerka, that is, the blue, from its deep blue 
mountain water (see Ges., Thes., p. 232). 

24. Jacob was left alone. Having seen 
his family safely over the ford, Jacob remained 
behind that he might seek anew in solitary 
prayer the divine protection in his expected 
meeting with his brother Esau. 

There wrestled a man with him; that 
is, one in the form of a man. Just as the three 
angels (one of whom was the Lord), appearing 
to Abraham in the form of men, are so called 

(18 : 2 ; comp. Josh. 5 : 13, 14 ; Dan. 3 : 25 ; Mark 16 : 5). 

This mysterious person is called an angel in 



Hosea 12 : 4, and God in ver. 28, 30, and Hosea 
12 : 3. The most commonly received opinion is 
that he was " the angel of the covenant." 

25. When he (the angel) saw that he 
prevailed not against him ; that is, while 
he used only such a measure of strength as 
belongs to a man. 

He touched the hollow of his (Jacob's) 
thigh (lit., the socket of the hi})). By this 
touch the angel revealed to Jacob his divine 
power, and thus also his true character. Jacob, 
whose self-reliance had helped him in many a 
strait, now learned how weak he w 7 as — was now 
convinced that he w r as grappling with omnip- 
otence itself. 

26. Let me go, for the day break- 
eth ; the language of the angel, spoken to try 
Jacob. 

I will not let thee go, except thou 
bless me. Having learned the heavenly char- 
acter of his antagonist, Jacob determined not to 
lose the opportunity of securing a blessing from 
him. The blessing which he obtained from his 
father by cunning and deceit, he now seeks 
with supplication and tears from this mysteri- 
ous divine man (Hosea 12 : 4). He was worsted 
in the bodily encounter, he sought that he might 
be victorious in the spiritual (2 Cor. 12 : t-io). 

27. What is thy name? Not that the 
angel did not know his name, but attention is 
hereby directed to the change which was to be 
made upon it. 

And he said, Jacob; that is, heel-catcher 
or supplanter (25 : 26). 

28. Thy name shall be called no more 
Jacob, but Israel. God invested Jacob with 
spiritual knighthood on the spot. Henceforth 
he was to be, not Jacob the supplanter, but 
Israel, the prince of El ; that is, one who strives 
with God, and (by implication) has power with 
him. From this time forward this new name 
would confirm to him the theocratic promise 



200 



GENESIS 



[Ch. XXXIII. 



thou power with God and with men, and hast 
prevailed. 

29 And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray 
thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that 
thou do'st ask after my name? And he blessed 
him there. 

30 And Jacob called the name of the place Pen- 
iel : for I have seen God face to face, and my life 
is preserved. 

31 And as he passed over Penuel the sun rose 
upon him, and he halted upon his thigh. 

~32 Therefore the children of Israel eat not of the 
sinew which shrank, which is upon the hollow of 
the thigh, unto this day ; because he touched the 
hollow of Jacob's thigh in the sinew that shrank. 



29 and with men, and hast prevailed. And Jacob 
asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy 
name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou 
dost ask after my name? And he blessed him 

30 there. And Jacob called the name of the place 
Peniel : for, said he, I have seen God face to 

31 face, and my life is preserved. And the sun 
rose upon him as he passed over Penuel, and he 

32 halted upon his thigh. Therefore the children 
of Israel eat not the sinew of the hip which is 
upon the hollow of the thigh, unto this day: 
because he touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh 
in the sinew of the hip. 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 



1 AND Jacob lifted up his eyes, and looked, and, 
behold, Esau came, and with him four hundred 
men. And he divided the children unto Leah, and 
unto Rachel, and unto the two handmaids. 

2 And he put the handmaids and their children 
foremost, and Leah and her children after, and 
Rachel and Joseph hindermost. 



1 AND Jacob lifted up his eyes, and looked, and, 
behold, Esau came, and with him four hundred 
men. And he divided the children unto Leah, 
and unto Rachel, and unto the two handmaids. 

2 And he put the handmaids and their children 
foremost, and Leah and her children after, and 



(see S5 : io), as the name Abraham had confirmed 
it to Abram (n = 5-7). 

For hast thou power (striven) with God 
and with men, and hast prevailed. The 

sense suggested by the Septuagint and Vulgate 
versions is probably the true one: "thou hast 
prevailed (contended successfully) with God, 
much more shalt thou be mighty against men." 
His prevailing with the angel was an earnest 
and pledge that he should prevail with Esau in 
their coming interview. If it is asked : How 
could Jacob prevail over him who was almighty 
and invincible ? it may be replied : God is 
wont to allow the exercise of his power to be 
modified by man's acts (see 19 : 22). The in- 
vincible is overcome by the prayer of faith. 
When the Lord said to Moses: "Let me alone, 
that my wrath may wax hot against them, and 
that I may consume them" (Exod. 32 : 10) , he 
virtually confessed to him that there was a re- 
straining power in his prayer. " The kingdom 
of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent 
take it by force" (Matt. 11 : 12). Jacob prevailed 
through yielding. Becoming sensible of his 
own weakness, then was he strong in the Lord, 
and therefore strong indeed. 

[This was the turning-point in Jacob's life. 
From this time onward, although always pru- 
dent and resourceful, he never is crafty as 
before.] 

29. Wherefore is it that thou dost 
ask after my name? In this question there 
is implied a refusal on the angel's part to com- 
ply with Jacob's request, And yet his request 
was virtually granted. It was as if the angel 
should say : Canst thou, after the manifestation 
with which thou hast been favored, be ignorant 
of who lam? (J^s- 13 : is.) 

30. Jacob called the name of the place 



Peniel ; that is, face of God. Penuel (▼«■. 31) 
is another form of the word with the same 
meaning. 

31. He halted upon his thigh. As a 

thorn in the flesh was given to Paul to humble 
him, lest he should be too elevated by the 
abundant revelations granted him ; so Jacob's 
lameness was to keep him mindful of the mys- 
terious wrestle at the Jabbok, and that the 
victory he gained was due entirely to the 
divine condescension and grace. 

32. Therefore the children of Israel 
eat not the sinew that shrank, better, of 
the hip ; that is, the sciatic muscle. This cus- 
tom, however, is not founded on the law of 
Moses, but is merely a traditional usage. The 
Talmud contains a number of precepts touching 
its observance (see Treatise, Chulin, ch. VII.). 



Chap. 33. Meeting of Jacob and Esau. 
1. Esau came, and with him four hun- 
dred men. Whether Esau's purpose in going 
to meet Jacob was hostile or friendly, is not 
stated. Being naturally' generous, he may not 
have cherished his resentment for twenty years. 
However this may have been, having received 
the proffer of Jacob's gifts and observing his 
humble and conciliatory approach, he runs to 
meet him, falls on his neck and kisses him, and 
it is only with reluctance that he will accept 
his presents. 

He divided the children unto Leah, 
etc. Although Jacob had been greatly strength- 
ened by the prayer of faith, he yet deemed it 
prudent to take every precaution against any exi- 
gency that might arise — a perfectly consistent 
course. He gave to each mother her own chil- 
dren . and so disposed them that the dearest would 
come last and be the least exposed to danger. 



Ch. XXXIII.] 



GENESIS 



201 



3 And he passed over before them, and bowed 
himself to the ground seven times, until he came 
near to his brother. 

4 And Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, 
and fell on his neck, and kissed him : and they wept. 

5 And he lifted up his eyes, and saw the women 
and the children, and said, Who are those with 
thee? And he said, The children which God hath 
graciously given thy servant. 

6 Then the handmaideus came near, they and 
their children, and they bowed themselves. 

7 And Leah also with her children came near, 
and bowed themselves : and after came Joseph 
near and Rachel, and they bowed themselves. 

8 And he said, What meanest thou by all this 
drove which I met? And he said, These are to 
find grace in the sight of my lord. 

9 And Esau said, I have enough, my brother; 
keep that thou hast unto thyself. 

10 And Jacob said, Nay, I pray thee, if now I 
have found grace in thy sight, then receive my 
present at my hand : for therefore I have seen thy 
face, as though I had seen the face of God, aud 
thou wast pleased with me. 

11 Take, I pray thee, my blessing that is brought 
to thee; because God hath dealt graciously with 
me, and because I have enough. And he urged 
him, and he took it. 

12 And he said, Let us take our journey, and let 
us go, and I will go before thee. 

13 And he said unto him, My lord knoweth that 
the children are tender, and the flocks and herds 
with young are with me ; and if men should over- 
drive them one day, all the flock will die. 

14 Let my lord, I pray thee, pass over before his 
servant; and I will lead on softly, according as 
the cattle that goeth before me and the children be 
able to endure, until I come unto my lord unto Seir. 



3 Rachel and Joseph hindermost. And he him- 
self passed over before them, and bowed himself 
to the ground seven times, until he came near 

4 to his brother. And Esau ran to meet him, and 
embraced him, and fell on his neck, and kissed 

5 him : and they wept. And he lifted up his eyes, 
and saw the women and the children ; and said, 
Who are these with thee? And he said, The 
children which God hath graciously given thy 

6 servant. Then the handmaids came near, they 
and their children, and they bowed themselves. 

7 And Leah also and her children came near, and 
bowed themselves : and after came Joseph near 

8 and Rachel, and they bowed themselves. And 
he said, What meanest thou by all this company 
which I met? And he said, To find grace in the 

9 sight of my lord. And Esau said, I have enough ; 

10 my brother, let that thou hast be thine. And 
Jacob said, Nay, I pray thee, if now I have found 
grace in thy sight, then receive my present at 
my hand : forasmuch as I have seen thy face, 
as one seeth the face of God, and thou wast 

11 pleased with me. Take, I pray thee, my gift 
that is brought to thee ; because God hath dealt 
graciously with me, and because I have enough. 

12 And he urged him, and he took it. And he 
said, Let us take our journey, and let us go, and 

13 I will go before thee. And he said unto him, 
My lord knoweth that the children are tender, 
and that the flocks and herds with me give suck : 
and if they overdrive them one day, all the 

14 flocks will die. Let my lord, I pray thee, pass 
over before his servant: and I will lead on 
softly, according to the pace of the cattle that 
is before me and according to the pace of the 
children, until I come unto my lord unto Seir. 



3. He bowed himself to the ground 
seven times. The number seven being fre- 
quently employed to express an indefinite num- 
ber, it need not be supposed that Jacob bowed 
just seven times, but that, as he was advancing, 
he stood still at intervals and made a low bow, 
such as is made by Orientals when they bring 
the head near to the ground, but do not touch it. 1 
Another expression is for complete prostration. 

4. And kissed him. In Oriental fashion. 
8. To find grace in the sight of my 

lord. Jacob's mode of address ( " my lord " ) is 
profoundly respectful. JBe is careful not to re- 
mind Esau of the preeminence which had been 
awarded to himself (see 27 : 3t). Esau, on the 
contrary, addresses him by the fraternal title, 
" my brother" (ver. 9). 

10. Receive my present at my hand. 
Jacob is very anxious that Esau should receive 
his present (or his blessing as he calls it, ver. 
11 ; comp. 2 Kings 18 : 31 ; 1 Sam. 25 : 27), and 
so presses its acceptance upon him. Had Esau 
declined to receive it, Jacob could not have 
surely counted on his friendship. In the East 
the acceptance of a present by a superior is a 



proof of friendship, and by an enemy, of recon- 
ciliation. 

I have seen thy face, as though I had 
seen (one seeth) the face of God. Different 
meanings have been given to these words. The 
most correct is probably that which regards 
Jacob as simply saying to Esau that his face had 
seemed to him as gracious and favorable as 
though it had been the face of God. 

12. I will go before thee. Esau proposes 
to accompany Jacob and his family through the 
country, both as a mark of friendship and as a 
guard to protect them. This proposal Jacob 
prudently declines, alleging as a very reasonable 
excuse for the slowness of his movements, that 
the children were tender (the younger were 
probably not more than from six to nine years of 
age), and that overdriving would be fatal to the 
flocks. Besides, Jacob knew the wild capricious 
character of his brother, and feared that by ac- 
cepting his proposal, something might occur to 
disturb the present harmony and interfere with 
his (Jacob's) settlement in Canaan. 

14. Until I come unto my lord unto 
Seir. "It seems to have been Jacob's inten- 



*"Esau was a model freebooter; and many such have given a startling brilliancy to the annals of 
that free-handed class of men, as free with what belongs to others as with their own. Natural affection, 
generous impulses, readiness to overlook injuries, scorn of revenge, have distinguished many who were 
the terror and scourge of their kind " (Conant). 



202 



GENESIS 



[Ch. XXXIV. 



15 And Esau said, Let me now leave with thee 
some of the folk that are with me. And he said, 
What needeth it? let me find grace in the sight of 
my lord. 

16 So Esau returned that day on his way unto 
Seir. 

17 And Jacob journeyed to Succoth, and built 
him a house, and made booths for his cattle: 
therefore the name of the place is called Suc- 
coth. 

18 And Jacob came to Shalem, a city of Shechem, 
which is in the land of Canaan, when he came 
from Padan-aram ; and pitched his tent before the 
city. 

19 And he bought a parcel of a field, where he 
had spread his tent, at the hand of the children 
of Hamor, Shechem's father, for a hundred pieces 
of money. 

20 And he erected there an altar, and called it 
El-Elohe-Israel. 

CHAPTEE 

1 AND Dinah the daughter of Leah, which she | 



15 And Esau said, Let me now leave with thee 
some of the folk that are with me. And he said, 
What needeth it? let me find grace in the sight 

16 of my lord. So Esau returned that day on his 

17 way unto Seir. And Jacob journeyed to Suc- 
coth, and built him an house, and made booths 
for his cattle : therefore the name of the place 
is called Succoth. 

18 And Jacob came in peace to the city of She- 
chem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he 
came from Paddan-aram ; and encamped before 

19 the city. And he bought the parcel of ground, 
where he had spread his tent, at the hand of the 
children of Hamor, Shechem's father, for an 

20 hundred pieces of money. And he erected there 
an altar, and called it El-elohe-Israel. 



XXXIV. 

1 And Dinah the daughter of Leah, which she 



tion, passing round the Dead Sea, to visit his 
brother in Seir, and thus, without crossing the 
Jordan, go to Beer-sheba to Isaac ; but he 
changed his plan, and whether the intention 
was carried out then or at a future period has not 
been recorded." There is no reason to suppose 
that he deceived, or intended to deceive, his 
brother in regard to the route he purposed to 
take. 

17. Jacoh journeyed to Succoth. The 
same day on which Esau set off for Mount Seir, 
Jacob proceeded to Succoth, where he built 
himself a house and made succoth for his flocks, 
that is, probably, hurdles or folds made of twigs 
woven together. It was probably his intention 
to proceed immediately to Shechem, but for 
some reason which the narrative does not record, 
having arrived in the neighborhood of the Jor- 
dan, he halted there, and evidently remained 
there some time. " Dinah, who is not noticed 
on the journey, was not now more than six 
years of age. Six or seven years more, there- 
fore, must have elapsed before the melancholy 
events of the next chapter took place. In the 
interval, Jacob may have visited his father, and 
even returned the visit of Esau." 

Succoth, so called here by anticipation, was 
situated in the valley of the Jordan, on the east 
side of the river, and to the south of the Jabbok 

(Josh. 13 : 27 ; Judg. 8 : 5, 8 ; Ps. 60 : 6). It afterward 

belonged to the tribe of Gad. 

18. Jacob came to Shalem, a city 
of Shechem, or, as in the Bevised version, 
Jacob came in peace to the city of Shechem. 
He had now crossed the Jordan and was once 
more in Canaan. It was at this place the Lord 
first appeared to Abraham (12 : 7). Shechem 
probably derived its name from the / son of the 
Hivite prince Hamor (ver. 19 ; 34:2), though 



some think it w T as so called from the shoulder- 
like ridge on which it is situated (see on 12 : e). 

19. An hundred pieces of money ; lit., 
a hundred TWSW'D, qesita, by some understood 
to mean a hundred pieces of silver of the value of 
a lamb each (so most of the ancient versions). 
It is now generally regarded as a piece or weight 
of gold or silver, current as money in the 
patriarchal age (see job 42 : 2). With this money 
Jacob purchased "the parcel of ground where 
he had spread his tent," thus showing that, in 
reliance upon the promise of God, he regarded 
Canaan as his own home and the home of his 
seed. This piece of ground became the portion 
of Joseph ; here the bones of Joseph were buried 
(josh. 24 : 82) ; and near-by was Jacob's well (John 
* = 5> 6). Jacob also erected an altar here, as 
Abraham had done before, on entering the land 
of Canaan («:»). 



Chap. 34. The Violation of Dinah, 

AND THE EEVENGE OF HEE BROTHERS. 
Jacob's troubles are not yet at an end. Bitterer 
than any of a foreign kind which he has hitherto 
experienced, is the one recorded in this chapter, 
which has come into his family. Not only has 
his heart been made to bleed over the blighted 
innocence of his daughter Dinah, but a wound 
no less deep has been inflicted by the revenging 
act of his sons Simeon and Levi. 

1. Dinah the daughter of Leah. Dinah 
was now probably between thirteen and fifteen 
years of age, and had attained to perfect 
maturity, which in Eastern countries is often 
reached at twelve, and sometimes earlier. Sup. 
posing her to have been only five years old when 
Jacob left Mesopotamia, a residence of eight 01 
ten years in Succoth would suffice to bring her 
age up to the above figure (see on 33 : 17). 



Ch. XXXIV.] 



GENESIS 



203 



bare unto Jacob, went out to see the daughters 
of the land. 

2 And when Shechem the son of Harnor the Hi- 
vite, prince of the country, saw her, he took her, 
and lay with her, and defiled her. 

3 And his soul clave unto Dinah the daughter of 
Jacob, and he loved the damsel, and spake kindly 
unto the damsel. 

4 And Shechem spake unto his father Hamor, 
saying, Get me this damsel to wife. 

5 And Jacob heard that he had defiled Dinah his 
daughter: now his sons were with his cattle in the 
field: and Jacob held his peace until they were 
come. 

6 And Hamor the father of Shechem went out 
unto Jacob to commune with him. 

7 And the sons of Jacob came out of the field 
when they heard it: and the men were grieved, 
and they were very wroth, because he had wrought 
folly in Israel in lying with Jacob's daughter; 
which thing ought not to be done. 

8 And Hamor communed with them, saying, The 
soul of my son Shechem longeth for your daughter : 
I pray you give her him to wife. 



bare unto Jacob, went out to see the daughters 

2 of the land. And Shechem the sou of Hamor 
the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her ; and 
he took her, and lay with her, and humbled her. 

3 And his soul clave unto Dinah the daughter of 
Jacob, and he loved the damsel, and spake 

4 kindly unto the damsel. And Shechem spake 
unto his father Hamor, saying, Get me this dam- 

5 sel to wife. Now Jacob heard that he had de- 
filed Dinah his daughter ; and his sons were 
with his cattle in the field : and Jacob held his 

6 peace until they came. And Hamor the father 
of Shechem went out unto Jacob to commune 

7 with him. And the sons of Jacob came in from 
the field when they heard it : and the men were 
grieved, and they were very wroth, because he 
had wrought folly in Israel in lying with Ja- 
cob's daughter ; which thing ought not to be 

8 done. And Hamor communed with them, say- 
ing, The soul of my son Shechem longeth for 
your daughter : I pray you give her unto him to 



Went out to see the daughters of the 
laud. In granting her the liberty of going out 
as she pleased, and unattended, to mingle in 
social intercourse with the heathen, they ex- 
posed her to temptations from which she should 
rather have been screened. Shechem's attach- 
ment to her and the outrage to which it led, 
point to more than a single opportunity of mak- 
ing her acquaintance. 

2. The Hivite. (See on 10 : 17.) 

Prince. The word does not denote one of 
royal extraction, but the head, or chief, of a 
tribe (Num. 7 : 2) or family (Num. 3 : 24), a person 
of wealth, power, and influence. The rank of 
Jacob was equal to that of Hamor, the father of 
Shechem. 

And defiled (humbled) her. The original 
word is similarly applied elsewhere (as Deut. 21 : 

14 ; Judg. 19 : 24 ; 2 Sam. 13 : 12, 14 ; Ezek. 22 : 10, 11). 

3. Spake kindly unto (lit., to the heart 
of) the damsel ; that is, in a manner calcula- 
ted to SOOthe and COmfort (comp. Isa. 40 : 2 ; Hosea 
2 : 14). 

4. Get me this damsel to wife. In order 
to add his entreaties to those of his father, he 
accompanied him in the interview that was 
sought with Jacob. 

5. Jacob held his peace until they (his 
sons) were come {came). They were proba- 
bly at some distance from home attending the 
flocks. Apart from them Jacob could do little. 
" In the case of a family by different wives, it is 
not the father, but the full brothers, on whom 
the protection of the daughters devolves — they 
are the guardians of a sister's welfare and the 
avengers of her wrongs. It was for this reason 
that Simeon and Levi, the two brothers of Dinah 
by Leah, appear the chief actors in this episode; 
and though the two fathers would have probably 



brought about an amicable arrangement of the 
affair, the hasty arrival of these enraged brothers 
introduced a new element into the negotiations." 

7. They were very wroth ; lit., it burned 
to them greatly (comp. 31 : 36). As explanatory of 
the excessive indignation of Dinah's brothers, 
Michaelis mentions an opinion still entertained 
among modern Arabs to the effect "that a 
brother is more dishonored by the seduction of 
his sister than a man by the infidelity of his 
wife; for, say they, a man may divorce his 
wife, and then she is no longer his; while a 
sister and daughter remain always sister and 
daughter." 

Because he had wrought folly. In the 
Scripture sense of the term, folly is wickedness 
of a shameful character. It specially designates 

Sins Of the flesh ( Deut. 22 : 21 ; Judg. 20 : 10 ; 2 Sam. 

13 : 12), though it is also applied to other great 
sins (Josh. 7 : 15). In the judgment of God, sin 
is the height of unreason (ps. 74 : 22; je T . 17 .- 11 ), 
and holiness the sublimest wisdom (ps. 111 : 10 ; 

Prov. 1:4). 

In Israel. For the first time the house- 
hold of Jacob is here designated by the title of 
"Israel," which afterward became the usual 
national designation of his posterity. 

8. Hamor communed with them. There 
is an air of candid and generous dealing in the 
proposals of Hamor and his son (ver. 9-12) which, 
at first, enlists our feelings in their favor. They 
seem strongly disposed to establish friendly 
intercourse with Jacob and his family, and, as 
far as possible, to repair the injury that had 
been done them. [But there is no apology made 
for the outrage upon Dinah, neither is she re- 
stored to her family. This may perhaps account 
for the failure of the negotiations and the con- 
sequences which followed.] 



204 



GENESIS 



[Ch. XXXIV. 



9 And make ye marriages with us, and give your 
daughters uuto us, and take our daughters unto 
you. 

10 And ye shall dwell with us: and the land 
shall be before you ; dwell and trade ye therein, 
and get you possessions therein. 

11 And Shechem said unto her father and unto 
her brethren, Let me find grace in your eyes, and 
what ye shall say unto me I will give. 

12 Ask me never so much dowry and gift, and I 
will give according as ye shall say unto me : but 
give me the damsel to wife. 

13 And the sons of Jacob answered Shechem and 
Hamor his father deceitfully, and said, because he 
had defiled Dinah their sister : 

14 And they said unto them, We cannot do this 
thing, to give our sister to one that is uncircum- 
cised ; for that were a reproach unto us : 

15 But in this will we consent unto you: If ye 
will be as we be, that every male of you be circum- 
cised ; 

16 Then will we give our daughters unto you, 
and we will take your daughters to us, and we will 
dwell with you and become one people. 

17 But if ye will not hearken unto us, to be cir- 
cumcised ; then will we take our daughter, and we 
will be gone. 

18 And their words pleased Hamor and Shechem 
Hamor's son. 

19 And the young man deferred not to do the 
thing, because he had delight in Jacob's daughter: 
and he was more honourable than all the house of 
his father. 

20 And Hamor and Shechem his son came unto 
the gate of their city, and communed with the men 
of their city, saying, 

21 These men are peaceable with us; therefore 
let them dwell in the land, and trade therein ; for 
the land, behold, it is large enough for them ; let 
us take their daughters to us for wives, and let us 
give them our daughters. 

22 Only herein will the men consent unto us for 
to dwell with us, to be one people, if every male 
among us be circumcised, as they are circumcised. 

23 Shall not their cattle and their substance and 
every beast of theirs be ours ? only let us consent 
unto them, and they will dwell with us. 

24 And unto Hamor and unto Shechem his son 
hearkened all that went out of the gate of his city ; 
and every male was circumcised, all that went out 
of the gate of his city. 



9 wife. And make ye marriages with us ; give 
your daughters uuto us, and take our daughters 

10 unto you. And ye shall dwell with us : and the 
land shall be before you; dwell and trade ye 

11 therein, and get you possessions therein. And 
Shechem said unto her father and unto her 
brethren, Let me find grace in your eyes, and 

12 what ye shall say unto me I will give. Ask me 
never so much dow T ry and gift, and I will give 
according as ye shall say unto me : but give me 

13 the damsel to wife. And the sons of Jacob an- 
swered Shechem and Hamor his father with 
guile, and spake, because he had defiled Dinah 

11 their sister, and said unto them, "We cannot do 
this thing, to give our sister to one that is uncir- 

15 cumcised ; for that were a reproach unto us : only 
on this condition will we consent unto you: if 
ye will be as we be, that every male of you becir- 

1G cumcised ; then will we give our daughters unto 
you, and we will take your daughters to us. and 
we will dwell with you, and we will become 

17 one people. But if ye will not hearken unto 
us, to be circumcised ; then will Ave take our 

18 daughter, and we will be gone. And their words 

19 pleased Hamor, and Shechem Hamor's son. And 
the young man deferred not to do the thing, be- 
cause he had delight in Jacob's daughter: and 
he was honoured above all the house of his 

20 father. And Hamor and Shechem his son came 
unto the gate of their city, and communed with 

21 the men of their city, saying, These men are 
peaceable with us; therefore let them dwell in 
the land, and trade therein ; for, behold, the 
land is large enough for them ; let us take their 
daughters to us for wives, and let us give them 

22 our daughters. Only on this condition will the 
men consent unto us to dwell with us, to be- 
come one people, if every male among us be 

23 circumcised, as they are circumcised. Shall not 
their cattle and their substance and all their 
beasts be ours? only let us consent unto them, 

24 and they will dwell with us. And unto Hamor 
and unto Shechem his son hearkened all that 
went out of the gate of his city ; and every male 
was circumcised, all that went out of the gate 



9. Make ye marriages with us. Jacob 

could never consent to the marriage of his 
daughter with a Canaanite, and there was no 
alternative but to reject the very considerable 
worldly advantages offered by Hamor and 
his son. 

12. Dowry and gift. By "dowry" here 
is meant the price which the bridegroom pays 
the father for his daughter, and by "gift" the 
present which the bride receives. 

15. But in this will we consent (or, only 
on this condition luill we consent) unto you. 
In naming circumcision as a condition of inter- 
marriage with the Shechemites, the sons of 
Jacob acted a most hypocritical part. They 
knew that circumcision, though the sign of 
God's covenant with Abraham and his seed 
(n : io), could not make the Shechemites true 
Israelites. Besides, they had no right to offer 
this sign to a heathen people, and employ it in 
the ratification of a merely human agreement. 



Their real purpose, however, was quite other 
than this. 

19. The young man deferred not to do 
the thing; that is, they were circumcised as 
soon as they had succeeded in getting the She- 
chemites to consent. Keil thinks their readi- 
ness to submit to the rite has its explanation 
in the fact that it " was already customary in 
different nations (according to Herod. 2, 104, 
among the Egyptians and Colchians) as an act 
of religious or priestly consecration." At all 
events, it was now practised by the Ishmaelites, 
and by the family and household of Esau, who 
were all growing into important tribes in the 
neighborhood of the Shechemites. 

The house of his father. Each fn'Jewas 
divided into families, and each family into 
households {fathers' houses, or ancestral houses) 
(see Exod. 6 : 14, is). Over these households were 
heads, as they are termed in Exod. 6 : 14; or 
chiefs, as termed in 1 Chron, 29 : 6 ; or princes, 



Ch. XXXV. ] 



GENESIS 



205 



25 And it carne to pass on the third day, when 
they were sore, that two of the sons of Jacob, Sim- 
eon and Levi, Dinah's brethren, took each man his 
sword, and came upon the city boldly, and slew 
all the males. 

26 And they slew Hamor and Shechem his son 
with the edge of the sword, and took Dinah out of 
Shechem's house, and went out. 

27 The sons of Jacob came upon the slain, and 
spoiled the city, because they had defiled their 
sister. 

2S They took their sheep, and their oxen, and 
their asses, and that which was in the city, and 
that which ivas in the field, 

29 And all their wealth, and all their little ones, 
and their wives took they captive, and spoiled even 
all that ivas in the house. 

30 And Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, Ye have 
troubled me to make me to stink among the inhab- 
itants of the land, among the Canaanites and the 
Perizzites : and I bang few in number, they shall 
gather themselves together against me, and slay 
me ; and I shall be destroyed, I and my house. 

31 And they said. Should he deal with our sister 
as with a harlot ? 



25 of his city. And it came to pass on the third 
day, when they Avere sore, that two of the sons 
of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah'-s brethren, 
took each man his sword, and came upon the 

26 city unawares, and slew all the males. And 
they slew Hamor and Shechem his son with the 
edge of the sword, and took Dinah out of 

27 Shechem's house, and went forth. The sons 
of Jacob came upon the slain, and spoiled the 

28 city, because they had defiled their sister. They 
took their flocks and their herds and their asses, 
and that which was in the city, and that which 

29 was in the field ; and all their wealth, and all 
their little ones and their wives, took they cap- 
tive and spoiled, even all that was in the house. 

30 And Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, Ye have 
troubled me, to make me to stink among the 
inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites 
and the Perizzites : and, I being few in number, 
they will gather themselves together against me 
and smite me; and I shall be destroyed, I and 

31 my house. And they said, Should he deal with 
our sister as with an harlot ° 



CHAPTER XXXV. 



1 AND God sr.id unto Jaeob, Arise, go up to 
Beth-el, and dwell there : and make there an altar 
unto God, that appeared unto thee when thou fled- 
dest from the face of Esau thy brother. 

2 Then Jacob said unto his household, and to 
all that were with him, Put away the str;. age gods 



1 AND God said unto Jacob, Arise, go up to 
Beth-el, and dwell there: and make there an 
altar unto God, who appeared unto thee when 
thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother. 

2 Then Jacob said unto his household, and to 
all that were with him, Put away the strange 



as in 2 Chron. 5:2 (Auth. version, "chief," 
properly, princes), comp. ver. 2 of this chapter. 

25. On the third day; the critical day, 
when inflammation and fever commonly set in. 1 

Simeon and Levi. As leaders in the horri- 
ble massacre, only Simeon and Levi, full brothers 
of Dinah, are mentioned ; though their armed 
followers are, of course, included. Reuben, also 
a brother of Dinah by the same mother, appears 
to have taken no part in it. His milder spirit 
(37 : 2i, 22) may have restrained him. That the 
other sons of Jacob did not take part in the 
slaughter seems apparent from ver. 27 ; though 
they appear to have joined with Simeon and 
Levi in plundering the city. 

30. Ye have troubled me. He is greatly 
concerned in view of its probable effect upon 
"the inhabitants of the land," who might thus 
be moved to inflict a terrible revenge. (See 
similar allusion to the perils apprehended from 
these prior occupants of the country in 13 : 7.) 
Nothing but the restraining power of God saved 
him and his family from their united vengeance 
(comp. 35 : 5). But he was none the less grieved 
by the gross immorality and wickedness of the 
act. This appears from his prophetic declara- 
tions on his deathbed concerning Simeon and 
Levi ( aee * 9 : 5 - 7 ). 



Chap. 35. Jacob's Removal to Bethel. 
The Death of Rachel and of Isaac. 
1. God (Elohim) said unto Jacob. The 

employment in this chapter of El and Elohim 
to designate the Deity, while in chapter 28, to 
which this chapter alludes, Jehovah is used, 
does not prove, as the critics think, a diverse 
authorship for the two sections. The Jehovah 
of 28 : 13-16 is here doubtless described as El 
(the mighty God) in allusion to Bethel (house 
of God) and Israel (prince of God) which con- 
tain the name, and because the name Bethel 
was given to the place by Jacob (28 : 22), The 
name Elohim, which is most naturally asso- 
ciated with El, " is appropriately used in ver. 5 
to indicate that the terror was divinely inspired, 
and did not proceed from any human source." 

Arise, go up to Bethel. The events which 
had recently occurred at Shechem would make 
it unsafe for Jacob to remain any longer there 
or in its vicinity ($± ■ 30). The distance from 
Shechem to Bethel was about thirty miles, by 
an ascending road. To the latter place, about 
thirty years before, he had solemnly vowed to 
return (28 : 22). Concerning Bethel see on 12 : 
8 ; 28 : 19. 

2. Put away the strange gods; lit., the 
of the stranger, that is, those worshiped by 



1 " This operation, as is well known, is no light matter. If not performed skilfully and with care, 
the loss of blood and the inflammation may prove fatal. Grown persons, after submitting to it, must lie 
in bed and keep quiet for three days ; and often the healing is not effected till after thirty-five or forty 
days" (Delitzsch). 



206 



GENESIS 



[Ch. XXXV. 



that are among you, and be clean, and change your 
garments : 

3 And let us arise, and go up to Beth-el ; and I 
will make there an altar unto God, who answered 
me in the day of my distress, and was with me in 
the way which I went. 

4 And they gave unto Jacob all the strange gods 
which were in their hand, and all their earrings 
which were in their ears ; and Jacob hid them 
under the oak which was by Shechem. 

5 And they journeyed : and the terror of God 
was upon the cities that were round about them, 
and they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob. 

6 So Jacob came to Luz, which is in the land of 
Canaan, that is, Beth-el, he and all the people that 
were with him. 

7 And he built there an altar, and called the 

Klace El-beth-el ; because there God appeared unto 
im, when he fled from the face of his brother. 

8 But Deborah Rebekah's nurse died, and she 
was buried beneath Beth-el under an oak : and the 
name of it was called Allon-bachuth. 

9 And God appeared unto Jacob again, when he 
came out of Padan-aram, and blessed him. 

10 And God said unto him, Thy name is Jacob : 
thy name shall not be called any more Jacob, but 
Israel shall be thy name ; and he called his name 
Israel. 

11 And God said unto him, I am God Almighty : 
be fruitful and multiply ; a uation and a company 
of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come 
out of thy loins ; 

12 And the land which I gave Abraham and 
Isaac, to thee I will give it and to thy seed after 
thee will I give the land. 

13 And God went up from him in the place where 
he talked with him. 



gods that are among you, and purify your- 

3 selves, and change your garments: and let 
us arise, and go up to Beth -el ; and I will 
make there an altar unto God, who answer- 
ed me in the day of my distress, and was 

4 with me in the way which I went. And they 
gave unto Jacob all the strange gods which were 
in their hand, and the rings which were in their 
ears ; and Jacob hid them under the oak which 

5 was by Shechem. And they journeyed : and a 
great terror was upon the cities that were round 
about them, and they did not pursue after the 

6 sons of Jacob. So Jacob came to Luz, which is 
in the land of Canaan (the same is Beth-el), he 

7 and all the people that were with him. And he 
built there an altar, and called the place El- 
beth-el : because there Gcd was revealed unto 
him, when he fled from the face of his brother. 

8 And Deborah Rebekah's nurse died, and she was 
buried below Beth-el under the oak : and the 
name of it was called Allon-bacuth. 

9 And God appeared unto Jacob again, when he 

10 came from Paddan-aram, and blessed him. And 
God said unto him, Thy name is Jacob: thy 
name shall not be called any more Jacob, but 
Israel s" all be thy name: and he called his 

11 name Israel. And God said unto him, I am God 
Almighty : be fruitful and multiply ; a nation 
and a company of nations shall be of thee, and 

12 kings shall come out of thy loins ; and the land 
which I gave unto Abraham and Isaac, to thee I 
will give it, and to thy seed after thee will I give 

13 the land. And God went up from him in the 



y/ 



foreign people. These would include the tera- 
phim which Rachel had stolen from her father, 
and any other objects of idolatrous worship 
which Jacob's servants may have brought from 
Mesopotamia or adopted in Canaan. Suck ob- 
jects may have been included among the spoils 
which were taken at Shechem. 

And be clean, purify yourselves. This 
outward purification was enjoined as symboliz- 
ing the internal cleansing of the soul which is 
always requisite to worshiping God acceptably 
(Exod. 19 : io, ii). The original word is afterward 
used to describe purification from legal unclean- 
ness before access to sacred ordinances (Lev. 13 : 

15 ; Num. 8 : 7 ; 2 Chron. 30 : 18). 

3, I will make there an altar unto 
God. This he did, calling the place of the 
altar El-beth-el, in memory of God's former 
manifestation to him in his flight from Esau 
(ver. 7). This is the fifth altar in the patriarchal 
history. The first was erected by Abraham in 
the neighborhood of Bethel (12 : 8; comp. 13 : 4)- t 
the second by Abraham in Mamre near Hebron 
(13 : is); the third by Isaac in Beer-sheba (26 : 25); 
the fourth by Jacob in Shechem (33 : 20): and the 
fifth by him here in Bethel. 

4. Earrings which were in their ears ; 
that is, the earrings which were worn as talis- 
mans and amulets, and so belonging to idol- 
atrous symbols. 



8. Deborah Rebekah's nurse died. 

She must now have been a very aged woman, 
for one hundred and forty years had passed 
since she left Padan-aram with Rebekah. Her 
transference to the household of Jacob makes it 
probable that Rebekah was no longer living. 

Under an (the) oak. Probably identical 
with the oak referred to in 1 Sam. 10 : 3 and in 1 
Kings 13 : 14. In the latter passage the Hebrew 
word has the definite article, as it should be 
here, showing the reference to be to a well- 
known and familiar object. 

10. Israel shall be thy name. Having 
now returned to Bethel, from which place he 
may be said to have set out for Padam-aram, 
and having now fulfilled the vow which he 
then made, God appears to him again, renews, 
and in more emphatic terms his promise of 
protection and inheritance, and confirms to him 
the name Israel, which was given him at Peniel 

(see 32 : 28; comp. 1 Kings 18 : 31 ; 2 Kings 17 : 3-i). So 

Simon received the name Peter on two dif- 
ferent Occasions (John 1 : 42 ; comp. Mark 3 : 16 ; Matt. 
16 . 16-19). 

11. I am God Almighty (Heb. '1W !?**, 
'El-shaddai). This was the name under which 
the Lord addressed Abram, when he changed 
his name to Abraham (see on 17 : 1) and promised 
him the land of Canaan for an everlasting pos- 
session. It was therefore peculiarly appropriate 



Ch. XXXV.] 



GENESIS 



207 



14 And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where 
he talked with him, even a pillar of stone : and he 
poured a drink offering thereon, and he poured oil 
thereon. 

15 And Jacob called the name of the place where 
God spake with him, Beth-el. 

16 And thev journeyed from Beth-el ; and there 
was but a little way to come to Ephrath: and 
Rachel travailed, and she had hard labour. 

17 And it came to pass, when she was in hard 
labour, that the midwife said unto her, Fear not ; 
thou shalt have this son also. 

18 And it came to pass, as her soul was in de- 
parting, (for she died,) that she called his name 
Ben-oni : but his father called him Benjamin. 

19 And Rachel died, and was buried in the way 
to Ephrath, which is Beth-lehem. 

20 And Jacob set a pillar upon her grave : that 
is the pillar of Rachel's grave unto this day. 

21 And Israel journeyed, and spread his tent be- 
yond the tower of Edar. 

22 And it came to pass, when Israel dwelt in that 
land, that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his 
father's concubine : and Israel heard it. Now the 
sons of Jacob were twelve : 

23 The sons of Leah ; Reuben, Jacob's firstborn, 
and Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, 
and Zebulun : 

21 The sons of Rachel ; Joseph, and Benjamin : 

25 And the sons of Bilhah, Rachel's handmaid ; 
Dan, and Naphtali : 

26 And the sons of Zilpah, Leah's handmaid ; 
Gad, and Asher. These are the sons of Jacob, 
which were born to him in Padan-aram. 

27 And Jacob came unto Isaac his father unto 
Mamre, unto the city of Arba, which is Hebron, 
where Abraham and Isaac sojourned. 



14 place where he spake with him. And Jacob set 
up a pillar in the place where he spake with 
him, a pillar of stone: and he poured out a 
drink offering thereon, and poured oil thereon. 

15 And Jacob called the name of the place where 

16 God spake with him, Beth-el. And they jour- 
neyed from Beth-el ; and there was still some 
way to come to Ephrath : and Rachel travailed, 

17 and she had hard labour. And it came to pass, 
when she was in hard labour, that the midwife 
said unto her, Fear not ; for now thou shalt have 

18 another son. And it came to pass, as her soul 
was in departing (for she died), that she called 
his name Ben-oni : but his father called him 

19 Benjamin. And Rachel died, and was buried 
in the way to Ephrath (the same is Bethlehem). 

20 And Jacob set up a pillar upon her grave : the 
same is the Pillar of Rachel's grave unto this 

21 day. And Israel journeyed, and spread his tent 

22 beyond the tower of Eder. And it came to pass, 
while Israel dwelt in that land, that Reuben 
went and lay with Bilhah his father's concu- 
bine : and Israel heard of it. 

23 Now the sons of Jacob were twelve : the sons 
of Leah ; Reuben, Jacob's firstborn, and Simeon, 
and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Zebu- 

24 lun : the sons of Rachel ; Joseph and Benjamin : 

25 and the sous of Bilhah, Rachel's handmaid ; 

26 Dan and Naphtali: and the sons of Zilpah, 
Leah's handmaid ; Gad and Asher : these are the 
sons of Jacob, which were born to him in Pad- 

27 dan-aram. And Jacob came unto Isaac his fa- 
ther to Mamre, to Kiriath-arba (the same is He- 
bron), where Abraham and Isaac sojourned. 



here, and Jacob referred to it with profound 
pleasure and satisfaction near the close of his 

life (see 48 : 3). 

14. He poured out a drink offering 
thereon. On the first pillar, which probably 
had fallen clown, Jacob poured oil (see on 28 : 18) ; 
on this he poured a drink offering besides. The 
latter is here mentioned for the first time. 
Under the law it consisted of the fourth part of 
a hin of wine, equal to about the third of a 

gallon (Exod. 29 : 40, 41 ; Lev. 23 : 13, 18, 37 ; Num. 15 : 5 ; 
28 : 7). 

16. She had hard labour; lit., she had 
hard labor in her parturition. At the birth of 
Joseph, Rachel expressed the wish that God 
would give her another son (30 : 24) } which wish 
was not fulfilled till sixteen or seventeen years 
after, and then with the going out of her own 
life. When she felt that her end was drawing 
near, she bestowed upon the new-born child the 
name "Benoni," that is, son of my affliction, 
but Jacob called him " Benjamin," that is, son 
of the right hand, which means, according to 
the Scripture usage of the phrase, that he was 
very dear to him. 

19. In the way to Ephrath, which is 
Bethlehem, or, house of bread, about seven 
miles south of Jerusalem. It afterward became 
the birthplace of David (1 Sam. 16 : is) and of 
Christ (M&tt. 2:1). 



20. Jacob set up a pillar upon her 
grave. This pillar was still standing three 
hundred years later, or when the history was 
written, and the sepulchre was known in the 
days of Samuel (1 Sam. 10 : 2; comp. jer. 31:15). 
The spot cannot be certainly identified, but 
there seems to be little ground for questioning 
the tradition which has placed it since the 
fourth century within the Turkish chapel 
Kubbet Rachil, about an English mile north of 
Bethlehem. 

21. The tower of Edar; that is, the tower 
of the flock. These towers were built for the 
use of herdsmen in watching and guarding 

their flocks (2 Kings 18 : 8; 2 Chron. 26 : 10). 

22. Reuben (comp. 49 = 4). For Reuben's 
incest he was deprived of his right of primo- 
geniture (see 1 Chron. 5:1). 

26. These are the sons of Jacob,which 
were born to him in Padan-aram. This 
is not true of Benjamin, who was born in 
Canaan ; but as all but Benjamin were born in 
Mesopotamia, the historian does not think it 
necessary particularly to note the exception. 
His language is popular rather than exact. 
The Scriptures abound with this summary way 
of speaking. Thus in 1 Cor. 15 : 5, it is said 
that Christ appeared to "the twelve," though 
the suicide of Judas had reduced the number of 
the apostles to eleven ; and in Luke 24 : 33 



208 



GENESIS 



[Ch. XXXVI. 



28 And the days of Isaac were a hundred and 
fourscore years. 

29 And Isaac gave up the ghost, and died, and 
was gathered unto his people, being old and full of 
days : and his sons Esau and Jacob buried him. 



28 And the days of Isaac were an hundred and 

29 fourscore years. And Isaac gave up the ghost, 
and died, and was gathered unto his people, old 
and full of days : and Esau and Jacob his sons 
buried him. 



CHAPTER XXXVI. 



1 NOW these are the generations of Esau, who is 
Edom. 

2 Esau took his wives of the daughters of Canaan ; 
Adah the daughter of Elon the Hittite, and Aholi- 
bamah the daughter of Anah the daughter of 
Zibeon the Hivite ; 

3 And Bashemath Ishmael's daughter, sister of 
Nebajoth. 



1 NOW these are the generations of Esau (the 

2 same is Edom). Esau took his wives of the 
daughters of Canaan ; Adah the daughter of 
Elon the Hittite, and Oholibamah the daughter 
of Anah, the daughter of Zibeon the Hivite ; 

3 and Basemath Ishmael's daughter, sister of Ne- 



llie eleven" are said to have been "gath- 
ered," though it is elsewhere stated that Thomas 
was not one of their number. 

28. The days of Isaac were an hun- 
dred and fourscore years. His death did 
not occur till Joseph had been twelve or thir- 
teen years in Egypt ; but it and a brief sketch 
of the family of Esau (chap. 36) are disposed 
of here in order that the thread of the history 
of Jacob's sons which follows, might not be 
broken. 

29. Was gathered unto his people (see 
ou25:8). And his sons Esau and Jacob 
buried him. At this time they were one 
hundred and twenty years old (25 : 26). Their 
coming together, as Isaac and Ishmael had 
done on a similar occasion, to pay the last 
service due their deceased father, shows that 
the reconciliation between them was cordial 
and lasting. 



Chap. 36. The Descendants of Esatt. 
The name of God does not occur in this chap- 
ter, consequently no plea for its division can be 
derived from this quarter. Dillmann very truly 
affirms that the style is uniform throughout, 
and there is nothing in the language that mili- 
tates against the unity of the chapter. "The 
scheme upon which the book of Genesis is con- 
structed, made it essential that an account 
should be given of the descendants of Esau; 
and the greater nearness of his relation to 
Jacob made it natural that a larger space 
should be given to them than to the descendants 
of Ishmael and Keturah (chap. 25) : It had been 
revealed to Eebekah that two nations would 
spring from her twin children (25 : 23). This 
must be verified in the case of Esau as well as 
of Jacob. . . The materials embraced in the 
chapter are, therefore, the proper ones to be 
introduced in this place" (Doctor Green, Unity 
of 6?en.,p. 417). 

The chapter consists of seven divisions: (1) 
Ver. 1-8. Origin of the Edomites. (2) Ver. 
9-14. The three chief branches of the Edomites. 



(3) Ver. 15-19. Princes descended from Esau. 

(4) Ver. 20-28. Descendants of Seir, father of 
the original occupants of the country. (5) 
Ver. 29, 30. Princes of this race. (6) Ver. 31- 
39. Kings of Edom. (7) Ver. 40-43. Other 
princes of Esau's race. 

1. These are the generations (see on 2 : 4). 

Edom (see on 25 : 30 and 32 : 3). 

2 9 3. Esau took his wives (the expres- 
sion here refers not to the marriage, but to the 
removal, of his wives) of the daughters of 
Canaan ; that is, who were of the daughters 
of Canaan. These wives, according to 26 : 34 
and 28 : 9, were Judith, the daughter of Beeri 
the Hittite, Basemath, the daughter of Elon 
the Hittite, and Mahalath, the daughter of Ish- 
mael and the sister of Nfebaioth. According to 
this chapter, they were Adah, the daughter of 
Elon the Hittite, Aholibamah, the daughter of 
Anah, the daughter of Zibeon the Hivite, and 
Basemath, Ishmael's daughter, sister of Ne- 
baioth. 

[A reconciliation of these differences has 
been attempted in various ways. Hengsten- 
berg thinks Beeri is a second name for Anah, 
given him as the discoverer of the hot springs 
(ver. 24), the word meaning " spring man." The 
different names of Esau's wives may be due to 
double names having been given them — a very 
common practice — of which one list gives the 
one and the other list the other (see 17 : 5, 15 ; 20 : 

30 ; 35 : 10, 18 ; 41 : 45 ; Exod. 2 : 18, cf. 8 : 1 ; Num. 13 : 16, 

etc). The peculiarity that Hittite, Hivite, and 
Horite are used interchangeably is thought to 
be due to the first being the generic name of the 
tribe, the second its specific designation, and 
the third the name for the people of the district 
to which Anah belonged. Even though no ex- 
planation may be satisfactory, we cannot be- 
lieve, even upon the ground of some of the 
radical critics, that a redactor would have put 
together statements he thought in the most 
direct conflict, especially as in other places he 
is credited with numerous attempts to reconcile 
difficulties by his own explanatory additions.] 



Ch. XXXVI.] 



GENESIS 



209 



4 And Adah bare to Esau Eliphaz ; and Bashe- 
math bare Reuel ; 

5 And Aholibamah bare Jeush, and Jaalarn, and 
Korah : these are the sons of Esau, which were 
born unto him in the land of Carman. 

6 And Esau took his wives, and his sons, and his 
daughters, and all the persons of his house, and 
his cattle, and all his beasts, and all his substance, 
which he had got in the laud of Canaan ; and 
went into the country from the face of his brother 
Jacob. 

7 For their riches were more than that they 
might dwell together; and the land wherein they 
were strangers could not bear them because of 
their cattle. 

8 Thus dwelt Esau in mount Seir : Esau is Edom. 

9 And these are the generations of Esau the father 
of the Edomites in mount Seir : 

10 These are the names of Esau's sons; Eliphaz 
the son of Adah the wife of Esau, Reuel the son of 
Bashemath the wife of Esau. 

11 And the sons of Eliphaz were Teman, Omar, 
Zepho, and Gatam, and Kenaz. 

12 And Timna was concubine to Eliphaz Esau's 
son; and she bare to Eliphaz Amalek : these were 
the sons of Adah Esau's wife. 

13 And these are the sons of Reuel ; Nahath, and 
Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah : these were the sons 
of Bashemath Esau's wife. 

14 And these were the sons of Aholibamah, the 
daughter of Anah the daughter of Zibeon, Esau's 
wife : and she bare to Esau Jeush, and Jaalam, and 
Korah. 

15 These were dukes of the sons of Esau : the 
sons of Eliphaz the firstborn son of Esau ; duke 
Teman, duke Omar, duke Zepho, duke Kenaz, 

16 Duke Korah, duke Gatam, and duke Amalek : 
these are the dukes that came of Eliphaz in the land 
of Edom : these were the sons of Adah. 

17 And these are the sons of Reuel Esau's son ; 
duke Nahath, duke Zerah, duke Shammah, duke 
Mizzah : these are the dukes that came of Reuel in 
the land of Edom : these are the sons of Bashemath 
Esau's wife. 

18 And these are the sons of Aholibamah Esau's 
wife ; duke Jeush, duke Jaalam. duke Korah : these 
were the dukes that came of Aholibamah the daugh- 
ter of Anah, Esau's wife. 

19 These are the sons of Esau, who is Edom, and 
these are their dukes. 

20 These are the sons of Seir the Horite, who in- 



4 baioth. And Adah bare to ±.sau Eliphaz ; and 

5 Basemath bare Reuel ; and Oholibamah bare 
Jeush, and Jalam, and Korah : these are the 
sons of Esau, which were born unto him in the 

6 land of Canaan. And Esau took his wives, and 
his sons, and his daughters, and all the souls of 
his house, and his cattle, and all his beasts, and 
all his possessions, which he had gathered in 
the land of Canaan ; and went into a land away 

7 from his brother Jacob. For their substance 
was too great for them to dwell together ; and 
the land of their sojournings could not bear 

8 them because of their cattle. And Esau dwelt 

9 in mount Seir: Esau is Edom. And these are 
the generations of Esau the father of the Edom- 

10 ites in mount Seir : these are the names of Esau's 
sons ; Eliphaz the son of Adah the wife of Esau, 
Reuel the son of Basemath the wife of Esau. 

11 And the sons of Eliphaz were Teman, Omar, 

12 Zepho, and Gatam, and Kenaz. And Timna 
was concubine to Eliphaz Esau's son : and she 
bare to Eliphaz Amalek : these are the sons of 

13 Adah Esau's wife. And these are the sons of 
Reuel ; Nahath, and Zerah, Shammah. and Miz- 
zah : these were the sons of Basemath Esau's 

14 wife. And these were the sons of Oholibamah 
the daughter of Anah, the daughter of Zibeon, 
Esau's wife : and she bare to Esau Jeush, and 

15 Jalam, and Korah. These are the dukes of the 
sons of Esau : the sons of Eliphaz the firstborn 
of Esau ; duke Teman, duke Omar, duke Zepho, 

16 duke Kenaz, duke Korah, duke Gatam, duke 
Amalek : these are the dukes that came of Eli- 
phaz in the land of Edom ; these are the sons of 

17 Adah. And these are the sons of Reuel Esau's 
son ; duke Nathan, duke Zerah, duke Shammah, 
duke Mizzah : these are the dukes that came of 
Reuel in the land of Edom ; these are the sons 

18 of Basemath Esau's wife. And these are the 
sons of Oholibamah Esau's wife; duke Jeush, 
duke Jalam, duke Korah : these are the dukes 
that came of Oholibamah the daughter of Anah, 

19 Esau's wife. These are the sons of Esau, and 
these are their dukes : the same is Edom. 

20 These are the sons of Seir the Horite, the in- 



4,5. The sons born to Esau in the land of 
Canaan were five, the eldest of whom bore the 
name of the first of Job's friends, and the 
second that of Moses' father-in-law. 

6. And Esau took his wives. The first 
clause in ver. 2 is resumed here, and the sen- 
tence begun there is completed in this verse. 

Went into the conntry from the face of 
his brother Jacob, or, better, went into a land 
aicay from his brother Jacob. When Isaac dis- 
missed Jacob with his final blessing, he added 
the significant words: "That thou mayest in- 
herit the land . . . which God gave unto Abra- 
ham." It is not, however, necessary to suppose 
that Esau was moved solely by the divine 
promise to Jacob to retire from Canaan and 
take possession of Mount Seir, In the over- 
ruling providence of God, the vast increase of 
his worldly substance was the occasion of his 
removal, which perhaps took place before Jacob 
had reached Canaan. 



8. Mount Seir, (see on 32 : 3.) 

12. Amalek. The ancestor of the Amalek- 
ites, mentioned in 14 : 7, who probably separated 
themselves at an early period from the rest of 
the Edomites, and formed a distinct and power- 
ful tribe. In 14 : 7 (on which see) they are 
probably named by anticipation, because their 
country was thus designated before the time of 
i Moses and the exodus. 

15-19. Dukes. The Edomites. like the 
Israelites, were divided into tribes, which took 
their names from Esau's sons. The Hebrew 
word ^17^, 'allnph, here rendered "duke," 
means, properly, the chieftain of a thousand 
men. He did not have the high rank and 
wealth of a British peer, but was rather like the 
sheikh or emir of the modern East. Fourteen 
of these " dukes " are mentioned who flourished 
contemporaneously. 

20. Sons of Seir the Horite. There 
were native dukes who inhabited the country 



210 



GENESIS 



[Ch. XXXVI. 



habited the land ; Lotan, and Shobal, and Zibeon, 
and Anah, 

21 And Dishon, and Ezer, and Dishan : these are 
the dukes of the Horites, the ehildren of Seir in 
the land of Edom. 

22 And the children of Lotan were Hori and 
Hemam ; and Lotan's sister was Timna. 

23 And the children of Shobal were these ; Alvan, 
and Manahath, and Ebal, Shepho, and Onam. 

24 And these are the children of Zibeon; both 
Ajah, and Anah: this ivas that Anah that found 
the mules in the wilderness, as he fed the asses of 
Zibeon his father. 

25 And the children of Anah were these; Dishon, 
and Aholibamah the daughter of Anah. 

26 And these are the children of Dishon ; Hem- 
dan, and Eshban, and Ithran, and Cheran. 

27 The children of Ezer are these ; Bilhan, and 
Zaavan, and Akan. 

28 The children of Dishan are these; Uz, and 
Aran. 

29 These are the dukes that came of the Horites; 
duke Lotan, duke Shobal, duke Zibeon, duke Anah, 

30 Duke Dishon, duke Ezer, duke Dishan : these 
are the dukes that came of Hori, among their dukes 
in the land of Seir. 

31 And these are the kings that reigned in the 
land of Edom, before there reigned any king over 
the children of Israel. 

32 And Bela the son of Beor reigned in Edom : 
and the name of his city was Dinhabah. 

33 And Bela died, and Jobab the son of Zerah of 
Bozrah reigned in his stead. 

34 And Jobab died, and Husham of the land of 
Temani reigned in his stead. 

35 And Husham died, and Hadad the son of Be- 
dad, who smote Midian in the field of Moab, reigned 
in his stead : and the name of his city was Avith. 



habitants of the land ; Lotan and Shobal and 

21 Ziheon and Anah, and Dishon and Ezer and 
Dishan : these are the dukes that came of the 
Horites, the children of Seir in the land of 

22 Edom. And the children of Lotan were Hori 
and Hemam ; and Lotan's sister was Timna. 

23 And these are the children of Shobal ; Alvan 
and Manahath and Ebal, Shepho and Onam. 

24 And these are the children of Zibeon ; Aiah and 
Anah : this is Anah who found the hot springs 
in the wilderness, as he fed the asses of Zibeon 

25 his father. And these are the children of 
Anah ; Dishon and Oholibamah the daughter of 

26 Anah. And these are the children of Dishon ; 
Hemdan and Eshban and Ithran and Cheran. 

27 These are the children of Ezer ; Bilhan and 

28 Zaavan and Akan. These are the children of 

29 Dishan; Uz and Aran. These are the dukes 
that came of the Horites ; duke Lotan, duke 

30 Shobal, duke Zibeon, duke Anah, duke Dishon, 
duke Ezer, duke Dishan: these are the dukes 
that came of the Horites, according to their 
dukes in the land of Seir. 

31 And these are the kings that reigned in the 
land of Edom, before there reigned any king 

32 over the children of Israel. And Bela the son 
of Beor reigned in Edom ; and the name of his 

33 city was Dinhabab. And Bela died, and Joab 
the son of Zerah of Bozrah reigned in his stead. 

34 And Jobab died, and Husham of the land of the 

35 Temanites reigned in his stead. And Husham 
died, and Hadad the son of Bedad, who smote 
Midian in the field of Moab, reigned in his 
stead : and the name of his citv was Avith. 



before the Edomite invasion, and were incor- 
porated with those of that race. The families 
of this tribe are mentioned, because Aholi- 
bamah, wife of Esau, and Timna, concubine of 
Eliphaz, Esau's son (ver. 12, 22), were Horites 

(see on 14 : 6), 

24. The mules ; better, hot springs. The 
latter is the better rendering of the obscure word 
D*D*, yemim, which is translated "mules" in 
the Authorized version. Doubtless the streams 
of the place, lying southeast of the Dead Sea, 
and afterwards called Callirhoe, are intended. 
According to 26 : 34, the father of one of Esau's 
wives was called Beeri, that is, man of a spring, 
which agrees with this account. 

25. Aholibamah. This Aholibamah was 
not Esau's wife mentioned in ver. 2, but the 
cousin of his wife's father. 

29, 30. This list of the dukes of the Horites 
is coincident with that of the sons of Seir in ver. 
20, 21. The first list names them personally; 
the second, officially. 

31. These are the kings that reigned 
in the land of Edom. It is noticeable that 
none of these kings was a son or descendant of 
his predecessor, thus showing that the govern- 
ment was an elective monarchy — that the royal 
power was not built on the ruins of the duke- 
doms, but existed at the same time. 

Before there reigned any kisig over 



the children of Israel. By many expositors 
these words are regarded as a late interpolation, 
written after kings had reigned in Israel. There 
is, however, nothing inconsistent with the 
Mosaic origin of the whole passage. The glory 
of a kingly power had been promised both to 
Abraham (n : 6, 16) and to Jacob (35 : n), and 
the Israelites doubtless cherished a constant 
hope of such a kingdom and kingly race. 
The words of Moses (Deut, 28 : 36) make it plain 
that a king should be set over them ; and hence 
it was only natural that, when recording the 
names of the eight kings who had reigned in the 
family of Esau up to his own time, he should 
remark that as yet no king had risen from the 
family of his brother Jacob, to whom a kingly 
progeny had been promised. The original 
words are : " before the reigning of a king to 
the sons of Israel," and might be rendered: 
"while as yet the children of Israel have no 
king"; there being nothing in the words ex- 
pressive of past time, or indicating that be- 
fore they were written a king had reigned in 
Israel. 
33« Bozrah. One of the chief cities of the 

EdomitCS (isa. 34 : 6 ; 63 : 1 ; Jer. 49 : 13 ; Amos 1 : 12). 

It is still traceable in El-Busaireh, a village and 
castle in Arabia Petreea, about twenty-five miles 
south by east of the Dead Sea (Robinson, Vol. 
II., pp. 570, 571). 



Ch. XXXVII.] 



GENESIS 



211 



36 And Hadad died, and Samlah of Masrekah 
reigned in his stead. 

37 And Samlah died, and Saul of Rehoboth by 
the river reigned in his stead. 

38 And Saul died, and Baal-hanan the son of 
Achbor reigned in his stead. 

39 And Baal-hanan the son of Achbor died, and 
Hadar reigned in his stead : and the name of 
his city was Fau ; and his wife's name was Me- 
hetabel the daughter of Matred, the daughter of 

40 And these are the names of the dukes that 
came of Esau, according to their families, after 
their places, by their names; duke Timnah, duke 
Alvah, duke Jetheth, 

41 Duke Aholibamah, duke Elah, duke Pinon, 

42 Duke Kenaz, duke Teman, duke Mibzar, 

43 Duke Magdiel, duke Iram : these be the dukes 
of Edom, according to their Habitations in the land 
of their possession: he is Esau the father of the 
Edomites. 



36 And Hadad died, and Samlah of Masrekah 

37 reigned in his stead. And Samlah died, and 
Shaul of Rehoboth by the River reigned in his 

38 stead. And Shaul died, and Baal-hanan the son 

39 of Achbor reigned in his stead. And Baal- 
hanan the son of Achbor died, and Hadar 
reigned in his stead : and the name of his city 
was Pau ; and his wife's name was Mehetabel, 
the daughter of Matred, the daughter of Mez- 

40 ahab. And these are the names of the dukes 
that came of Esau, according to their families, 
after their places, by their names; duke Tim- 

41 nah, duke Alvah, duke Jetheth ; duke Oholi- 

42 bamah, duke Elah, duke Pinon ; duke Kenaz, 

43 duke Teman, duke Mibzar ; duke Magdiel, duke 
Iram : these be the dukes of Edom, according to 
their habitations in the land of their possession. 
This is Esau the father of the Edomites. 



CHAPTER XXXVII 



1 AND Jacob dwelt in the land wherein his father 
was a stranger, in the land of Canaan. 

2 These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, 
being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock 
with his brethren ; and the lad was with the sons 
of Bilhah, and with the sons of Zilpah, nis father's 
wives : and Joseph brought unto his father their 
evil report. 

3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his 
children, because he was the son of his old age : 
and he made him a coat of many colours. 

4 And when his brethren saw that their father 
loved him more than all his brethren, they hated 
him, and could not speak peaceably unto him. 



1 AND Jacob dwelt in the land of his father's 

2 sojournings, in the land of Canaan. These are 
the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being seven- 
teen years old, was feeding the flock with his 
brethren ; and he was a lad with the sons of 
Bilhah, and with the sons of Zilpah, his father's 
wives: and Joseph brought the evil report of 

3 them unto their father. Now Israel loved Joseph 
more than all his children, because he was the 
son of his old age : and he made him a coat of 

4 many colours. And his brethren saw that their 
father loved him more than all his brethren ; 
and they hated him, and could not speak peace- 



40-43. These verses recapitulate the dukes 
of Esau according to their residences. Only 
eleven are mentioned, though the tribes of 
Edom were at least thirteen in number (ver. 
u-u). Some may have been wandering tribes 
without a fixed abode. 



Chap. 37. Joseph Sold into Egypt. 
Having, in the preceding chapter, disposed of 
the line of Esau, the sacred writer here resumes 
from ch. 35 the family history of Jacob. The 
exquisite and touching story of Joseph, begun 
in this chapter, is marked throughout by 
marvelous unity of plan and purpose. 

1. Jacob dwelt in the Sand ... of 
Canaan. He had now taken up his abode at 
Hebron (com P . 35 : 2?) f whence his flocks, in 
charge of his sons, were led far or near, as 
pasture offered. 

2. These are the generations of Jacob. 
The next chapter (38) concerns itself with 
Judah, and those which immediately follow, 
with Joseph ; yet Jacob, the heir of Abraham 
and the progenitor of the Messiah, is the central 
figure of the history, to which the histories of 
Judah and Joseph are subordinate. 

Joseph . . . was feeding the flock (lit., 
Joseph, being seventeen years old, was a shepherd 
over the flock) ... he a lad, with the sons 
of Bilhah and Zilpah (Dan and Naphtali; 



Gad and Asher). Joseph was more than "a 
servant-boy with them, for the lighter service 
of errands and the like" (Conant) ; the words 
imply oversight and direction. This chief place 
in the party may have been assigned him either 
from his being the son of the beloved Rachel, 
or from his own superior qualities of character ; 
and if invested with this office, he acted the 
part, not of a tattler, but of a faithful steward 
in reporting to his father the scandalous conduct 
of his brethren. The language employed in the 
original fastens the guilt upon them, not upon 
him; it clearly indicates that they had com- 
mitted some flagrant act which he felt in duty 
bound to report. 

3. A coat of many colors ; lit, a tunic of 
pieces, the meaning being either that it was a robe 
made of pieces sewed together, which may have 
been colored, or a full length garment extend- 
ing to the feet, and the sleeves to the wrists. 
The latter rendering is now commonly adopted. 
The phrase occurs again in 2 Sam. 13 : 18, where 
it describes the garment worn by Tamar, the 
daughter of David. 

4. They hated him, and could not 
speak peaceably unto him ; that is, they 
could not offer him the customary salutation of 
D1?EP, shalom, or peace, which was everywhere 
current among those not openly and avowedly 
at variance with each other. 



212 



GENESIS 



[Ch. XXXVII. 



5 And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it 
his brethren : and they hated him yet the more. 

6 And he said unto them, Hear, I pray you, this 
dream which I have dreamed : 

7 For, behold, we were binding sheaves in the 
field, and, lo, my sheaf arose, and also stood up- 
right; and, behold, your sheaves stood round 
about, and made obeisance to my sheaf. 

8 And his brethren said to him, Shalt thou in- 
deed reign over us? or shalt thou indeed have 
dominion over us? And they hated him yet the 
more for his dreams, and for his words. 

9 And he dreamed yet another dream, and told 
it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed 
a dream more ; and, behold, the sun and the moon 
and the eleven stars made obeisance to me. 

10 And he told it to his father, and to his breth- 
ren: and his father rebuked him, and said unto 
him, What is this dream that thou hast dreamed ? 
Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed 
come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth? 

11 And his brethren envied him ; but his father 
observed the saying. 

12 And his brethren went to feed their father's 
flock in Shechem. 

13 And Israel said unto Joseph, Do not thy 
brethren feed the flock in Shechem ? come, and I 
will send thee unto them. And he said to him, 
Here am 1. 

14 And he said to him, Go, I pray thee, see 
whether it be well with thy brethren, and well 
with the flocks ; and bring me word again. So he 
sent him out of the vale of Hebron, and he came 
to Shechem. 

15 And a certain man found him, and, behold, 
he was wandering in the field : and the man asked 
him, saying, What seekest thou? 

16 And he said, I seek my brethren : tell me, I 
pray thee, where they feed their flocks. 

17 And the man said, They are departed hence ; 
for I heard them say, Let us go to Dothan. And 
Joseph went after his brethren, and found them in 
Dothan. 

18 And when they saw him afar off, even before 
he came near unto them, they conspired against 
him to slay him. 

19 And they said one to another, Behold, this 
dreamer cometh. 

20 Come now therefore, and let us slay him, and 
cast him into some pit, and we will say, Some evil 



5 ably unto him. And Joseph dreamed a dream, 
and he told it to his brethren : and they hated 

6 him yet the more. And he said unto them, 
Hear, I pray you, this dream which I have 

7 dreamed : for, behold, we were binding sheaves 
in the field, and, lo, my sheaf arose, and also 
stood upright ; and, behold, your sheaves came 
round about, and made obeisance to my sheaf. 

8 And his brethren said to him, Shalt thou indeed 
reign over us? or shalt thou indeed have do- 
minion over us? And they hated him yet the 

9 more for his dreams, and for his words. And 
he dreamed yet another dream, and told it to 
his brethren, and said-, Behold, I have dreamed 
yet a dream ; and, behold, the sun and the moon 

10 and eleven stars made obeisance to me. And 
he told it to his father, and to his brethren ; and 
his father rebuked him, and said unto him, 
What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? 
Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed 
come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth ? 

11 And his brethren envied him ; but his father 

12 kept the saying in mind. And his brethren 
went to feed their father's flock in Shechem. 

13 And Israel said unto Joseph, Do not thy brethren 
feed the flock in Shechem? come, and I will 
send thee unto them. And he said to him, Here 

14 am I. And he said to him, Go now, see whether 
it be well with thy brethren, and well with the 
flock; and bring me word again. So he sent 
him out of the vale of Hebron, and he came to 

15 Shechem. And a certain man found him, and, 
behold, he was wandering in the field : and the 
man asked him, saying, What seekest thou? 

16 And he said, I seek my brethren: tell me, I 

17 pray thee, where they are feeding the flock. And 
the man said, They are departed hence : for I 
heard them say, Let us go to Dothan. And 
Joseph went after his brethren, and found them 

18 in Dothan. And they saw him afar off, and 
before he came near unto them, they conspired 

19 against him to slay him. And they said one to 

20 another, Behold, this dreamer cometh. Come 
now therefore, and let us slay him, and cast him 
into one of the pits, and we will say, An evil 



5. They hated him yet the more. The 

hatred which Joseph's brethren felt toward him 
on account of his father's partiality was in- 
creased by his two dreams, both of which he 
related to them, and the second to his father 
also. The first pointed to his supremacy over 
his brethren (ver. 8), the second over the whole 
house of Israel (ver. 10). 

7. We were binding sheaves in the 
fieldo It appears that Jacob, like Isaac, was 
an agriculturist as well as shepherd (comp. 26 : 12). 

12. His brethren went to feed their 
father's flock in Shechem. The pasturage 
in the valley of Hebron, where Jacob was 
dwelling, having become exhausted, his sons 
went with their flocks to Shechem, probably to 
the field which their father had bought (33 : 19). 
His anxiety for his sons' welfare in that place 
may have arisen from the enmity which their 
violence had there excited against them (3* : so). 

(See on 12 : 6.) 

17. Dothan ; meaning the two wells. It is 



about twelve miles north of Shechem, and has 
the best pasturage in all that region. " By 
noon we reached Dothan. . . Just north of us 
was the well called Bir el Hufireh, ' Well of the 
Pit,' and east of us a second with a water- 
trough, thus accounting for the name Dothan, 
'Two Wells'" (Conder). 

18. They conspired against him to 
slay him. History furnishes few if any 
parallels to the cruel intentions and cruel con- 
duct of Joseph's brethren. From their own 
confession, afterwards made ( « : 21), it appears 
that he besought them with tears (but in vain) 
to spare his life. 

19. Behold, this dreamer (lit., this lord 
of dreams— idiomatic for habitual usage or 
addictedness) cometh; the language of con- 
tempt and scorn. 

20. Let as slay him, and cast him into 
some pit (one of the pits). " It could not have 
been difficult for Joseph's brethren to find an 
empty cistern in which to secure him. Ancient 



Ch. XXXVII.] 



GENESIS 



213 



beast hath devoured him ; and we shall see what 
will become of his dreams. 

21 And Reuben heard it, and he delivered him 
out of their hands ; and said, Let us not kill him. 

22 And Reuben said unto them, Shed no blood, 
but cast him into this pit that is in the wilderness, 
and lay no hand upon him ; that he might rid him 
out of their hands, to deliver him to his father 
again. 

23 And it came to pass, when Joseph was come 
unto his brethren, that they stripped Joseph out of 
his coat, his coat of many colours that was on him ; 

24 And they took him, and cast him into a pit : 
and the pit was empty, there was no water in it. 

25 And they sat down to eat bread : and they 
lifted up their eyes and looked, and, behold, a 
company of Ishmaelites came from Gilead, with 
their camels bearing spicery and balm and myrrh, 
going to carry it down to Egypt. 

26 And Judah said unto his brethren, What 
profit is it if we slay our brother, and conceal his 
blood? 

27 Come, and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, 
and let not our hand be upon him ; for he is our 
brother and our flesh : and his brethren were con- 
tent. 



beast hath devoured him: and we shall see 

21 what will become of his dreams. And Reuben 
heard it, and delivered him out of their haud ; 

22 and said, Let us not take his life. And Reuben 
said unto them, Shed no blood ; cast him into 
this pit that is in the wilderness, but lay no 
hand upon him : that he might deliver him out 

23 of their hand, to restore him to his father. And 
it came to pass, when Joseph was come unto his 
brethren, that they stript Joseph of his coat, the 

24 coat of many colours that was on him ; and they 
took him, and cast him into the pit : and the pit 

25 was empty, there was no water in it. And they 
sat down to eat bread : and they lifted up their 
eyes and looked, and, behold, a traveling com- 
pany of Ishmaelites came from Gilead, with 
their camels bearing spicery and balm and 

26 myrrh, going to carry it down to Egypt. And 
Judah said unto his brethren, What profit is it 
if we slay our brother and conceal his blood? 

27 Come, and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, 
and let not our hand be upon him ; for he is our 
brother, our flesh. And his brethren hearkened 



cisterns are very common, even now, along the 
roads and elsewhere" (Robinson's Bib. Res., 
III., 122). "These tanks for storing, being so 
narrow at the mouth that a single stone will 
cover them, and widening below into a large 
subterraneous room, form prisons from which 
escape is impossible. A cistern called ' Joseph's 
Pit' is still shown" (Robinson's Bib. Res., II., 
419). 

We shall see what will become of his 
dreams. Joseph's brethren were evidently 
alarmed at his dreams, notwithstanding their 
contemptuous way of speaking. Their fratri- 
cidal act is best explained on the ground that 
they saw in them heaven-sent prophecies of his 
future greatness and of their subjection to him. 
But the very deed by which they thought to 
frustrate his promotion, was overruled in the 
providence of God for bringing it about. 

21, 22. Reuben's suggestion to his brethren 
was that, instead of first slaying Joseph and 
then casting his dead body into a pit, they cast 
him in alive — a suggestion meaning really a 
more lingering and cruel death than the other ; 
but as they would thus be spared the sight of 
blood shed by their own hands, they acceded to 
the proposition. Reuben's purpose, however, 
was in this way to rid {deliver) him out of 
their hand, to deliver {restore) him to his 
father again. 

25. They sat down to eat bread % as if 
nothing had happened. In this heartless meal 
Reuben took no part (see ver. 29). His absence 
may have been for the purpose of devising 
means to rescue Joseph. 

A {traveling) company of Ishmaelites ; 
called Midianites in ver. 28, and (Heb.) Meda- 
nites in ver. 36. They seem to have been a 



mixed company, made up of the descendants of 
Ishmael and the descendants of Medan and 
Midian. Being related tribes and dwelling in 
the immediate neighborhood of each other, it 
was only natural for them to unite in caravans 
and commercial enterprises, and be called now 
by one name, now by another (see on 25 : 2). The 
route of these Ishmaelites from the spice district 
of Gilead to Egypt may be easily traced. It lay 
across the Jordan, below the sea of Galilee, 
over the plain of Jezreel to the Mediterranean, 
and thence along the seashore. [From Judg. 
8 : 24, cf. 7:1 seq., 8 : 1 seq., it is seen that 
Ishmaelites was used to include Midianites.] 

Spicery and balm and myrrh. By the 
first of these articles, JI&OJ, nekhoth, is probably 
meant the gum of the Astragalus tragacantha, a 
thorny shrub found throughout the East. It is 
highly valued for its medicinal properties. The 
second article, 'IV, tseri, was a very precious 
gum obtained from the balsam tree, almost 
peculiar to Palestine. On account of its healing 
properties it found a ready market in Egypt 
(jer. 8 : 22 ; 46 : ii : 5i : s). The third article, tt'7, 
lot, is the ladanum, an odoriferous gum ex- 
uding from the shrub Cistus creticus, a shrub 
growing in Arabia, Syria, and Palestine. (See 
Vigouroux, Vol. II., p. 17.) 

26, 27. The sight of these traveling mer- 
chants led to the suggestion by Judah that the 
sentence of death against Joseph be exchanged 
for one of perpetual slavery. Judah had enough 
of the feeling of remorse to lead him to oppose 
the former, but not enough to restrain him from 
the latter. His brethren acted on his advice, 
" because they thought that if he were sold for a 
slave, he would never be a lord ; and if sold into 
Egypt, he would never be their lord." 



214 



GENESIS 



[Ch. XXXVIII. 



28 Then there passed by Midianites merchant- 
men ; and they drew and lifted up Joseph out of 
the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for 
twenty pieces of silver: and they brought Joseph 
into Egypt. 

29 And Reuben returned unto the pit ; and, be- 
hold, Joseph was not in the pit ; and he rent his 
clothes. 

30 And he returned unto his brethren, and said, 
The child is not and I, whither shall I go? 

31 And they took Joseph's coat, and killed a kid 
of the goats, and dipped the coat in the blood ; 

32 And they sent the coat of many colours, and 
they brought it to their father ; and said, This have 
we found : know now whether it be thy son's coat 
or no. 

33 And he knew it, and said, It is my son's coat ; 
an evil beast hath devoured him ; Joseph is with- 
out doubt rent in pieces. 

34 And Jacob rent his clothes, and put sackcloth 
upon his loins, and mourned for his son many 
days. 

35 And all his sons and all his daughters rose up 
to comfort him ; but he refused to be comforted ; 
and he said, For I will go down into the grave 
unto my son mourning. Thus his father wept for 
him. 

36 And the Midianites sold him into Egypt unto 
Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh's, and captain of 
the guard. 



28 unto him. And there passed by Midianites 
merchantmen ; and they drew and lifted up 
Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the 
Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. And 

29 they brought Joseph into Egypt. And Reuben 
returned unto the pit ; and, behold, Joseph was 

30 not in the pit ; and he rent his clothes. And he 
returned unto his brethren, and said, The child 

31 is not; and I, whither shall I go? And they 
took Joseph's coat, and killed a he-goat, and 

32 dipped the coat in the blood ; and they sent the 
coat of many colours, and they brought it to 
their father: and said, This have we found: 
know now whether it be thy son's coat or not. 

33 And he knew it, and said, It is my son's coat ; 
an evil beast hath devoured him; Joseph is 

34 without doubt torn in pieces. And Jacob rent 
his garments, and put sackcloth upon his loins, 

35 and mourned for his son many days. And all 
has sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort 
him; but he refused to be comforted; and he 
said, For I will go down to the grave to my son 

36 mourning. And his father wept for him. And 
the Midianites sold him into Egypt unto Poti- 
phar, an officer of Pharaoh's, the captain of the 
guard. 



28. They brought Joseph into Egypt. 

By the route indicated above (see on ver. 25). 
There was another route by way of Hebron, 
where Jacob dwelt, by taking which the fate of 
Joseph might have reached his father's ears. 
Had the caravan been going by this way, 
Judah' s proposal would not likely have been 
acted upon. 

29. He rent his clothes ; in token of his 
grief and horror at the discovery that Joseph 
was not in the pit, for he thought that he was 
now lost to his father forever. This is the first 
notice of this method of manifesting grief (comp. 

ver. 34 ; 44 : 13 ; Num. 14 : 6 ; Josh. 7:6; Judg. 11 : 35 ; 2 
Sam. 13 : 19 ; Ezra 9:3; Job 1 : 20). 

34. Sackcloth. A coarse fabric of goat's 
hair, used for making sacks, the same word in 
Hebrew meaning both. It was the usual dress 

Of mourners (2 Sam. 3 : 31 ; Neh. 9 ; 1 ; Esther 4:1), 

and in cases of extreme mental distress was worn 
next the skin (i Kings 21 : 27). 

35. All his daughters. By these are 
probably meant his one daughter Dinah, and 
his daughters-in-law. 

I will go down to the grave (Heb., sheol) 
to my son mourning. The original term 
signifies the place of departed spirits, or, Hades, 
while grave is expressed by the words *l3j3, 
qebher, and 113, bor. Jacob must be under- 
stood as having expected to meet his son in 
the spirit world, but not in the grave, for he 
supposed he had been devoured by wild beasts. 

36. Potiphar; meaning devoted to Phar. 
that is, to the royal house or palace. 

An officer of Pharaoh's; Heb., "an 



eunuch," but also a general name for officers of 

the COUrt (comp. 1 Sam. 8 : 15 ; 1 Kings 22 : 9). As he 

had a wife, the literal sense cannot hold in this 
instance. 

Captain of the guard ; that is, chief of the 
executioners, or commander of the bodyguard, 
who executed the sentences of the king. Ebers 
(p. 301) describes Potiphar's office as that of 
chief minister of police. A similar office ex- 
isted among the Babylonians (comp. 2 Kings 25 •. 8 ; 

Jer. 39 : 9). 



Chap. 38. Judah and his Family. This 
chapter interrupts the narrative of Joseph for 
the purpose of introducing some particulars con- 
nected with the family history of Judah, which 
are chiefly important as showing the origin of 
the three leading families of this royal tribe 
(comp. Num. 36 : 19-22). The writer, it will be 
borne in mind, is giving not the life of Joseph 
simply, but the history of Jacob's family (see 37 : 
2a). The two chief persons in that family were 
Joseph and Judah: "Joseph from his high 
character, his personal importance, his influence 
in the future destinies of the race, and his typical 
foreshadowing of the Messiah ; Judah from his 
obtaining the virtual right of primogeniture, 
and from his being the ancestor of David and of 
the son of David." Having conducted Joseph 
to Egypt, the writer relates the contemporaneous 
events in connection with the other chief person 
in Jacob's family, and then in chap. 39 resumes 
the history of Joseph. 

As a chronological objection to this narrative, 
it has been argued that the events recorded in 



Ch. XXXVIII.] 



GENESIS 



215 



CHAPTER XXXVIII. 



1 AND it came to pass at that time, that Judah 
went down from his brethren, and turned in to a 
certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah. 

2 And Judah saw there a daughter of a certain 
Canaanite, whose name ivas Shuah ; and he took 
her, and went in unto her. 

3 And she conceived, and bare a son ; and he 
called his name Er. 

4 And she conceived again, and bare a son ; and 
she called his name Onan. 

5 And she yet again conceived, and bare a son ; 
and called his name Sheiah : and he wasatChezib, 
when she bare him. 

6 And Judah took a wife for .Lr his firstborn, 
whose name ivas Tamar. 

7 And Er, Judah's firstborn, was wicked in the 
sight of the Lord ; and the Lord slew him. 

8 And Judah said unto Onan, Go in unto thy 
brother's wife, and marry her, and raise up seed 
to thy brother. 

9 And Onan knew that the seed should not be 
his ; and it came to pass, when he went in unto his 
brother's wife, that he spilled it on the ground, lest 
that he should give seed to his brother. 

10 And the thing which he did displeased the 
Lord : wherefore he slew him also. 

11 Then said Judah to Tamar his daughter in 
law, Remain a widow at thy father's house, till 



1 AND it came to pass at that time, that Judah 
went down from his brethren, and turned in to 
a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah. 

2 And Judah saw there a daughter of a certain 
Canaanite whose name was Shua ; and he took 

3 her, and went in unto her. And she conceived, 
and bare a son ; and he called his name Er. 

4 And she conceived again, and bare a son ; and 

5 she called his name Onan. And she yet again 
bare a son, and called his name Sheiah : and he 

6 was at Chezib, when she bare him. And Judah 
took a wife for Er his firstborn, and her name 

7 was Tamar. And Er. Judah's firstborn, was 
wicked in the sight of the Lord ; and the Lord 

8 slew him. And Judah said unto Onan, Go in 
unto thy brother's wife, and perform the duty 
of an husband's brother unto her, and raise up 

9 seed to thy brother. And Onan knew that the 
seed should not be his ; and it came to pass, 
when he went iu unto his brother's wife, that 
he spilled it on the ground, lest he should give 

10 seed to his brother. And the thing which he 
did was evil in the sight of the Lord : and he 

11 slew him also. Then said Judah to Tamar his 
daughter in law, Remain a widow in thy father's 



the chapter could not have taken place in so 
short a time, that is, within the twenty-two 
years intervening between the sale of Joseph 
and the migration into Egypt, and that conse- 
quently Judah's marriage must have antedated 
the sale of Joseph. But, as Keil has shown, 1 
these twenty-two years furnish space enough for 
all the events recorded in this chapter. 

1. At that time ; that is, after the sale of 
Joseph, and while Judah was still feeding the 
flocks of Jacob along with his brethren (37 : 26). 

Judah went down ; that is, from Hebron 
in the hill country of Judah, where Jacob dwelt | 
(37 : u) } to the lowlands in which Adullam was I 
situated (Josh, is : 33-35). In the time of the con- 
quest the latter place was the seat of a Canaan- 
itish king (Josh. 12:15), and was afterward 
celebrated for its connection with the history of 
David (1 Sam. 22 : 1, 2 ; 2 Sam. 23 : i3). Later it was 
fortified by Behoboam (2 Chron. 11 : 7 ; comp. Micah 
1 : io), and had villages dependent upon it (Neh. 
11 : so). It must have lain in the plain of 
Judah, but its site has never been certainly 
identified. 

2. Shuah ; the name, not of the daughter, 
but of her father (see ver. 12). 

He took her ; that is, in marriage. Though 
he had objected to the marriage of his sister 



with Shechem (34 : u), he did not scruple to take 
this Canaanitish woman to be his wife. 
5. Chezib ; probably the same as Achzib 

(Josh. 15 : 44; Micah 1 : H, 15) and Chezeba (1 Chron. 

4 = 22) } in the low country of Judah. 

7. The Lori> slew him. The particular 
wickedness for which Er was slain is not 
named, but from what follows (ver. io) f it may 
be inferred to have been, as in the case of the 
Sodomites (is : 13 ; 19 : 5) some unnatural abom- 
ination. 

8. Go in unto thy brother's wife, and 
marry her, and raise up seed to thy 
brother (perform the duty of a husband's 
brother unto her). The first instance of a cus- 
tom which rested, not upon a divine command, 
but upon an ancient tradition, originating prob- 
ably in Chaldea, and was afterwards incorpo- 
rated among the laws of Moses (see Dent. 25 : 5, 6). 
Lest, however, the law might in some instances 
prove to be oppressive, provision was made by 
which the brother might release himself from 
the obligation, but not without bringing upon 
himself a measure of contempt (see Deut. 25 : 7-10 ; 
comp. Rnth 4:7). This law of levirate marriage 
is found in different forms among Indians, 
Bersians, and other nations of Asia and Africa 
{Diod. Sic., XII., 18). 



1 " If we suppose that Judah, who was twenty years old when Joseph was sold, went to Adullam soon 
afterwards and married there, his three sons might have been born four or five years after Joseph's cap- 
tivity. And if his eldest son was born about a year and a half after the sale of Joseph, and he married 
him to Thamar when he was fifteen years old, and gave her to his second son a year after that, Onan's 
death would occur at least five years before Jacob's removal to Egypt ; time enough, therefore, both for the 
generation and birth of the twin sons of Judah by Thamar, and for Judah's two journeys into Egvpt with 
his brethren to buy corn " (Keil). 



216 



GENESIS 



[Ch. XXXVIII. 



Shelah my son be grown : for he said, Lest perad- 
venture he die also, as his brethren did. And Tamar 
went and dwelt in her father's house. 

12 And in process of time the daughter of Shuah 
Judah's wife died ; and Judah was comforted, and 
went up uuto his sheepshearers to Timnath, he 
and his friend Hirah the Adullamite. 

13 And it was told Tamar, saying, Behold, thy 
father in law goeth up to Timnath to shear his 
sheep. 

14 And she put her widow's garments off from 
her, and covered her with a vail, and wrapped her- 
self, and sat in an open place, which is by the way 
to Timnath ; for she saw that Shelah was grown, 
and she was not given unto him to wife. 

15 When Judah saw her, he thought her to be a 
harlot ; because she had covered her face. 

16 And he turned unto her by the way, and said, 
Go to, I pray thee, let me come in unto thee ; (for 
he knew not that she was his daughter in law:) 
and she said, What wilt thou give me, that thou 
mayest come in unto me ? 

17 And he said, I will send thee a kid from the 
flock. And she said, Wilt thou give me a pledge, 
till thou send it? 

18 And he said, What pledge shall I give thee? 
And she said. Thy signet, and thy bracelets, and 
thy staff that is in thine hand. And he gave it her, 
and came in unto her, and she conceived by him. 

19 And she arose, and went away, and laid by 
her vail from her, and put on the garments of her 
widowhood. 

20 And Judah sent the kid by the hand of his 
friend the Adullamite, to receive his pledge from 
the woman's hand : but he found her not. 

21 Then he asked the men of that place, saying, 
Where is the harlot, that was openly by the way 
side ? And they said, There was no harlot in this 
place. 

22 And he returned to Judah, and said, I cannot 
find her ; and also the men of the place said, that 
there was no harlot in this place. 

23 And Judah said, Let her take it to her, lest we 
be shamed : behold, I sent this kid, and thou hast 
not found her. 

24 And it came to pass about three months after, 
that it was told Judah, saying, Tamar thy daughter 
in law hath played the harlot ; and also, behold, 



house, till Shelah my sou be grown up : for he 
said, Lest he also die, like his brethren. And 
Tamar went and dwelt in her father's house. 

12 And in process of time Shua's daughter, the 
wife of Judah, died ; and Judah was comforted, 
and went up unto his sheepshearers to Timnah, 

13 he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite. And 
it was told Tamar, saying, Behold, thy father 
in law goeth up to Timnah to shear his sheep. 

14 And she put off from her the garments of her 
widowhood, and covered herself with her veil, 
and wrapped herself, and sat in the gate of 
Enaim, which is by the way to Timnah ; for she 
saw that Shelah was grown up, and she was not 

15 given unto him to wife. When Judah saw her, 
he thought her to be an harlot; for she had 

16 covered her face. And he turned unto her by 
the way, and said, Go to, I pray thee, let me 
come in unto thee : for he knew not that she 
was his daughter in law. And she said, What 
wilt thou give me, that thou mayest come in 

17 unto me? And he said, I will send thee a kid 
of the goats from the flock. And she said, Wilt 

18 thou give me a pledge, till thou send it? And 
he said, What pledge shall I give thee? And 
she said. Thy signet and thy cord, and thy staff 
that is in thine hand. And he gave them to 
her, and came in unto her, and she conceived 

19 by him. And she arose, and went away, and 
put off her veil from her, and put on the gar- 

20 ments of her widowhood. And Judah sent the 
kid of the goats by the hand of his friend the 
Adullamite, to receive the pledge from the 

21 woman's hand : but he found her not. Then he 
asked the men of her place, saying, Where is 
the harlot, that was at Enaim by the way side? 
And they said, There hath been no harlot here. 

22 And he returned to Judah, and said, I have not 
found her; and also the men of the place said, 

23 There hath been no harlot here. And Judah 
said, Let her take it to her, lest we be put to 
shame : behold, I sent this kid, and thou hast 

24 not found her. And it came to pass about 
three months after, that it was told Judah, say- 
ing, Tamar thy daughter in law hath played the 



11. Lest o • • he die also, as his breth* 

ren did. Judah appears to have concluded 
that Tamar was a fatal wife (comp. Tobit, 
III., 7), and that he would lose his third son 
also if he gave him to her. He therefore put 
her off with the promise that he would give 
her Shelah as soon as he was grown up, at the 
same time ordering her to remain in the interval 
in her father's house, as was the custom with 
widows who had no children (see Lev. 22 : 13) .. 
After waiting some time, and finding that 
Judah disregarded his promise, she formed the 
design of ensnaring him, which was favored by 
the circumstance that his wife had died and he 
was now a widower. 

12. Judah was comforted ; that is, he 
had performed the customary ceremonies of 
mourning, and the usual time of lamentation 
for the dead had passed. 

Went up unto his sheepshearers» The 
time of sheep-shearing, which occurs in Pales- 
tine towards the end of March, was one of more 
than usual hilarity, and the wealthier masters 



were accustomed to invite their friends, as well 
as treat their servants, to sumptuous entertain- 
ments (comp. 2 Sam. 13 : 23). Accordingly Judah 
was accompanied by his friend Hirah. 

Timnah (not Timnath) ; the place spoken 
of in Josh. 15 : 57 as " in the mountains." 

13-18. When Tamar learned of Judah 2 s in- 
tention to go up to Timnah, she seized the op- 
portunity of carrying out her scheme. 

14. In an open place, or, in the gate of 
Enaim ; better, at the entrance to two fountains. 
Probably the place was by the wayside near to 
the two fountains from which the town took its 
name. 

21. Where is the harlot? HBhf), qedhe- 
shah, meaning literally, "consecrated"; that 
is, to the impure worship of the Phoenician 
goddess Astarte. This abominable worship 
was very early introduced into Canaan and 
Egypt. It reveals, but only partially, the 
fearful corruption of religion and morals wher- 
ever idolatry prevailed (comp. Num. 25 : 1. 2 ; Hosea 
4 : H)„ 



Ch. XXXIX.] 



GENESIS 



217 



she is with child by whoredom. And Judah said, 
Bring her forth, and let her be burnt. 

25 When she was brought forth, she sent to her 
father in law, saying, By the man, whose these are, 
am I with child : and she said, Discern, I pray 
thee, whose are these, the signet, and bracelets, 
and staff. 

26 And Judah acknowledged them, and said, She 
hath been more righteous than I ; because that I 
gave her not to Shelah my son. And he knew her 
again no more. 

27 And it came to pass, in the time of her travail, 
that, behold, twins were in her womb. 

28 And it came to pass, when she travailed, that 
the one put out his hand : and the midwife took and 
bound upon his hand a scarlet thread, saying, This 
came out first. 

29 And it came to pass, as he drew back his 
hand, that, behold, his brother came out : and she 
said, How hast thou broken forth? this breach be 
upon thee : therefore his name was called Pharez. 

30 And afterward came out his brother, that had 
the scarlet thread upon his hand : and his name 
was called Zarah. 



harlot; and moreover, behold, she is with child 
by whoredom. And Judah said, Bring her forth, 

25 and let her be burnt. When she was brought 
forth, she sent to her father in law, saying, By 
the man, whose these are, am I with child : and 
she said, Discern, I pray thee, whose are these, 

26 the signet, and the cords, and the staff. And 
Judah acknowledged them, and said, She is 
more righteous than I ; forasmuch as I gave her 
not to Shelah my son. And he knew her again 

27 no more. And it came to pass in the time of 
her travail, that, behold, twins were in her 

28 womb. And it came to pass, when she travailed, 
that one put out a hand : and the midwife took 
and bound upon his hand a scarlet thread, say- 

29 ing, This came out first. And it came to pass, 
as he drew back his hand, that, behold, his 
brother came out : and she said, Wherefore hast 
thou made a breach for thyself? therefore his 

30 name was called Perez. And afterward came 
out his brother, that had the scarlet thread upon 
his hand : and his name was called Zerah. 



CHAPTEK XXXIX 



1 AND Joseph was brought down to Egypt ; and 
Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the 
guard, an Egyptian, bought him of the hands of 
the Ishmaelites, which had brought him down 
thither. 



1 AND Joseph was brought down to Egypt ; and 
Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh's, the captain of 
the guard, an Egyptian, bought him of the hand 
of the Ishmaelites, which had brought him down 



24. Let her be burnt. As the head of his 
family, the power of life and death lay in 
Judah's hands. This power, in this instance, 
he proposed to exercise with great severity, 
since punishment by burning was afterward re- 
served for the daughters of priests (see Lev. 21 : 9). 
The crime which Tamar had committed was 
not fornication but adultery, she being regarded 
as the affianced bride of Shelah, and the usual 
punishment for this was stoning (see Deut. 22 : 23, 

24; John 8 : 4, 5). 

25. Discern, I pray thee, whose are 
these. She does not publicly name him, but 
simply sends him the pledged articles, and 
leaves it to his own conscience to rebuke him 
before God. 

26. She hath been more righteous 
than I. On the score of righteousness, the 
conduct of neither had much to commend it. 
She had, however, an advantage over him, 
since a previous wrong-doing on his part had 
indirectly occasioned hers. 

28. Bound upon his hand a scarlet 
thread ; to distinguish him as the firstborn, as 
many important privileges pertained to primo- 
geniture. 

29. Therefore his name was called 
Pharez (Perez) ; that is, breach, or breaker 
through; for when Zarah was apparently on 
the point of being born first, Perez forced his 
way, as it were, and preceded him — a circum- 
stance regarded as portending something im- 
portant in his future. He is placed before 
Zerah in the lists of 46 : 12 and Num. 26 : 20. 



He was the ancestor of the tribe-prince Nahshon 
(Num. 2 : 3) f and of King David (Ruth 4 : 18-22; 1 
Chron. 2:5); and through him Tamar has a place 
among the female ancestors in the genealogy of 

JeSUS (Matt. 1:8). 

Chap. 39. Joseph in Potiphar's House. 

In this chapter the name Jehovah (Lord) oc- 
curs eight times (ver. 2, 3, 5, 21, 23) f and Elohim 
(God) once (ver. 9). The proper explanation of 
this is not difference of authorship, but the con- 
nection in which the names respectively stand. 
In narrating the story of Joseph's bondage 
and imprisonment,'the sacred writer purposely 
shows that the unseen hand that was guiding 
all in the interest of grace was that of Jehovah, 
the guardian of the chosen race ; while in ver. 
9, where Joseph speaks to a heathen, to whom 
the name Jehovah would have been unintel- 
ligible, he uses Elohim. 

1. And Joseph was brought down to 
Egypt. The narrator here resumes the history 
of Joseph, which was interrupted by chap. 38, 
by recapitulating 37 : 36, the point where it 
was broken off. 

Bought him of the hands of the Ish- 
maelites. This seems to conflict with 38 : 36, 
which attributes his sale to the Midianites. 
That explanation is probably the correct one 
which makes the Midianites the apparent pos- 
sessors of Joseph and the actual authors of the 
sale, while the caravan took its name from the 
Ishmaelites (37 : 25, 28), who formed its principal 

portion. (See on 37 : 25.) 



218 



GENESIS 



[Ch. XXXIX. 



2 And the Lord was with Joseph, and he was a 
prosperous man ; and he was in the house of his 
master the Egyptian. 

3 And his master saw that the Lord was with 
him, and that the Lord made all that he did to 
prosper in his hand. 

4 And Joseph found grace in his sight, and he 
served him : and he made him overseer over his 
house, and all that he had he put into his hand. 

5 And it came to pass from the time that he had 
made him overseer in his house, and over all that 
he had, that the Lord blessed the Egyptian's house 
for Joseph's sake ; and the blessing of the Lord 
was upon all that he had in the house, and in the 
field. 

6 And he left all that he had in Joseph's hand ; 
and he knew not aught he had, save the bread 
which he did eat. And Joseph was a goodly per- 
son, and well favoured. 

7 And it came to pass after these things, that his 
master's wife cast her eyes upon Joseph ; and she 
said, Lie with me. 

$ But he refused, and said unto his master's wife, 
Behold, my master wotteth not what is with me in 
the house, and he hath committed all that he hath 
to my hand ; 

9 Tliere is none greater in this house than T ; 
neither hath he kept back anything from me but 
thee, because thou art his wife : how then can I do 
this great wickedness, and sin against God ? 

10 And it came to pass, as she spake to Joseph 
day by day, that he hearkened not unto her, to lie 
by her, or to be with her. 

11 And it came to pass about this time, that 
Joseph went into the house to do his business ; and 
there was none of the men of the house there within. 

12 And she caught him by his garment, saying, 
Lie with me : and he left his garment in her hand, 
and fled, and got him out. 



2 thither. And the Lord was with Joseph, and 
he was a prosperous man ; and he was in the 

3 house of his master the Egyptian. And his 
master saw that the Lord was with him, and 
that the Lord made all that he did to prosper in 

4 his hand. And Joseph found grace in his sight, 
and he ministered unto him : and he made him 
overseer over his house, and all that he had he 

5 put into his hand. And it came to pass from the 
time that he made him overseer in his house, 
and over all that he had, that the Lord blessed 
the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake ; and the 
blessing of the Lord was upon all that he had, 

6 in the house and in the field. And he left all 
that he had in Joseph's hand ; and he knew not 
aught that was with him, save the bread which 
he did eat. And Joseph was comely, and well 

7 favoured. And it came to pass after these things, 
that his master's wife cast her eyes upon Joseph ; 

8 and she said, Lie with me. But he refused, and 
said unto his master's wife, Behold, my master 
knoweth not what is with me in the house, and 
he hath put all that he hath into my hand ; 

9 there is none greater in this house than I ; 
neither hath he kept back any thing from me 
but thee, because thou art his wife: how then 
can I do this great wickedness, and sin against 

10 God? And it came to pass, as she spake to 
Joseph day by day, that he hearkened not unto 

11 her, to lie by her, or to be with her. And it 
came to pass about this time, that he went into 
the house to do his work ; and there was none 

12 of the men of the house there within. And she 
caught him by his garment, saying, Lie with 
me : and he left his garment in her hand, and 



2. He was in the house of his master 

the Egyptian. The position of Joseph in 
Potiphar's household was that of steward, some- 
what similar to the post occupied by Eliezer in 
Abraham's family (see on 15 : 2 and 24 : 2). Ebers 
(p. 303) speaks of the position of steward as " a 
dignity which we meet with at the earliest 
times in every Egyptian household." 

3. His master saw that the Lord was 
with him. The blessing of God rested so con- 
spicuously on Joseph and his labors that his 
master himself observed and acknowledged it. 
It must not be supposed that Potiphar knew God 
by the name of "Jehovah" and so designated 
him, but rather that he saw that Joseph was the 
object of supernatural care and favor, which 
the writer, and not he, ascribes to its true 
source. 

4. He made him overseer over Ms 
house, and all that he had he put into 
his hand. His faithfulness and capacity as a 
domestic servant led Potiphar to appoint him 
to the high office of steward. 

6. He knew not aught that he had, or, 
aught that ivas with him ; that is, Potiphar did 
not care for or trouble himself about anything 
that belonged to him ; he gave to Joseph the 
entire and unreserved control of all his posses- 
sions. 



Save the bread which he did eat. This 

limitation was necessitated by the laws of caste 
which then prevailed among the Egyptians, 
who had their own laws concerning food, and 
did not eat with Hebrews (see 43 : 32). 

Joseph was a goodly person {comely) 
and well favored ; lit., was beautiful of form 
and beautiful of countenance, like his mother 
Rachel (29 : 17). 

7. His master's wife cast her eyes 
upon Joseph. Both ancient and modern 
writers testify of the unchastity and conjugal 
infidelity that prevailed among ancient Egyp- 
tian women. Herodotus (Book II., 3) tells the 
story of Pheron, son of Sesostris, who searched 
long for a woman who had remained faithful to 
her husband, and when he found only one, he 
burned the faithless ones as a terrible example. 

9. How then can I do this great 
wickedness, and sin against God? "A 
golden saying, which should be ever at hand, 
to resist temptation to any wrong act. It 
should be the first lesson of childhood. Let 
every one, when tempted to do wrong, pause 
and say : How can I do this evil, and sin 
against God ? " 

There is abundant evidence that the women 
of ancient Egypt, even when married, were al- 
lowed to mix freely in promiscuous society (see 



Ch. XXXIX.] 



GENESIS 



219 



13 And it came to pass, when she saw that he 
had left his garment in her hand, and was fled 
forth, 

14 That she called unto the men of her house, 
and spake unto them, saying, See, he hath brought 
in a Hebrew unto us to mock us ; he came in unto 
me to lie with me, and I cried with a loud voice : 

15 And it came to pass, when he heard that I 
lifted up my voice and cried, that he left his gar- 
ment with me, and fled, and got him out. 

16 And she laid up his garment by her, until his 
lord came home. 

17 And she spake unto him according to these 
words, saying, The Hebrew servant, which thou 
hast brought unto us, came in unto me to mock me : 

18 And it came to pass, as I lifted up my voice 
and cried, that he left his garment with me, and 
fled out. 

19 And it came to pass, when his master heard 
the words of his wife, which she spake unto him, 
saying, After this manner did thy servant to me; 
that his wrath was kindled. 

20 And Joseph's master took him, and put him 
into the prison, a place where the king's prisoners 
ivere bound : and he was there in the prison. 

21 But the Lord was with Joseph, and shewed 
him mercy, and gave him favour in the sight of 
the keeper of the prison. 

22 And the keeper of the prison committed to 
Joseph's hand all the prisoners that were in the 
prison ; and whatsoever they did there, he was 
the doer of it. 

23 The keeper of the prison looked not to any 
thing that was under his hand ; because the Lord 
was with him, and that which he did, the Lord 
made it to prosper. 



13 fled, and got him out. And it came to pass, 
when she saw that he had left his garment in 

14 her hand, and was fled forth, that she called 
unto the men of her house, and spake unto 
them, saying, See, he hath brought in an He- 
brew unto us to mock us ; he came in unto me 
to lie with me, and I cried with a loud voice : 

15 and it came to pass, when he heard that I lifted 
up my voice and cried, that he left his garment 

16 by me, and fled, and got him out. And she laid 
up his garment by her, until his master came 

17 home. And she spake unto him according to 
these words, saying, The Hebrew servant, which 
thou hast brought unto us, came in unto me to 

18 mock me : and it came to pass, as I lifted up my 
voice and cried, that he left his garment by me, 

19 and fled out. And it came to pass, when his 
master heard the words of his wife, which she 
spake unto him, saying, After this manner did 
thy servant to me ; that his wrath was kindled. 

20 And Joseph's master took him, and put him into 
the prison, the place where the king's prisoners 
were bound : and he was there in the prison. 

21 But the Lord was with Joseph, and shewed 
kindness unto him, and gave him favour in the 

22 sight of the keeper of the prison. And the 
keeper of the prison committed to Joseph's 
hand all the prisoners that were in the prison ; 
and whatsoever they did there, he was the doer 

23 of it. The keeper of the prison looked not to 
any thing that was under his hand, because the 
Lord was with him ; and that which he did, the 
Lord made it to prosper. 



Taylor's Illustrations of the Bible from the 
Monuments of Egypt; Wilkinson's Manners 
and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians, etc.). 

14, See, he hath brought in a Hebrew. 
Foiled in her daring assault upon Joseph's 
chastity, Potiphar's wife, with passion turned 
to hate, would make it appear to " the men of 
her house" that he had attempted a violation 
of her chastity ; that thus she might have re- 
venge upon him and avert suspicion from 
herself. 

To mock ; that is, to make light of, to take 
improper liberties. 

Us ; including with herself the other female 
members of the household, as though all were 
alike exposed to his indignities. "There is a 
remarkable resemblance between this passage 
in the history of Joseph and a very ancient 
Egyptian romance in the Papyrus d'Orbiney in 
the British Museum, called ' The Two Brothers,' 
in which the wife of the elder brother acts in 
the same manner and uses almost the same 
words" (Sp. Com.). 

20. Joseph's master took him, and 
put him into the prison. The word irTD. 
sohar, here rendered " prison," literally denotes 
round house, and was probably so called from 
its circular form. The prison was attached to 
the house of the captain of the guard, but there 
was a special officer placed over it and the 
prisoners. From Ps. 105 : 17, 18, it appears 



that in this place Joseph was harshly treated. 
Says the psalmist : 

They afflicted with fetters his feet, 
The iron entered into his soul. 

This, however, was probably only for a short 
period, or during the first wrath of his master. 
By degrees he gained the confidence of the jailer 
(ver. 22 ) ( who mitigated the rigor of his confine- 
ment, and at length entrusted him with the 
care of important State prisoners. The keeper 
of the prison was doubtless previously well ac- 
quainted with Joseph ; he may have been con- 
vinced of Joseph's innocence much sooner than 
Potiphar himself. 

It might seem surprising that Potiphar did 
not put Joseph to death. But it is known that 
the Egyptians did not punish the crime of 
adultery with death, and that masters were for- 
bidden by the laws of Egypt to put their slaves 
to death. It may be also that Potiphar, after 
his first anger, might have doubted Joseph's 
guilt. 

But the statement should not be overlooked 
that " the Lord was with him ; and that which 
he did, the Lord made it to prosper" (ver 23). 
" The Lord gave him favor in the sight of the 
keeper of the prison" (ver. 21). In the prison, 
whose inmates were often persons high in rank 
and office, Joseph may have learned much that 
was of use to him in his future career.- 



220 



GENESIS 



[Ch. XL. 



CHAPTER XL. 



1 AND it came to pass after these things, that the 
butler of the king of Egypt and his baker had of- 
fended their lord the king of Egypt. 

2 And Pharaoh was wroth against two of his 
officers, against the chief of the butlers, and against 
the chief of the bakers. 

3 And he put them in ward in the house of the 
captain of the guard, into the prison, the place 
where Joseph was bound. 

4 And the captain of the guard charged Joseph 
with them, and he served them : and they con- 
tinued a season in ward. 

5 And they dreamed a dream both of them, each 
man his dream in one night, each man according 
to the interpretation of his dream, the butler and 
the baker of the king of Egypt, which were bound 
in the prison. 

6 And Joseph came in unto them in the morning, 
and looked upon them, and, behold, they were sad. 

7 And he asked Pharaoh's officers that were with 
him in the ward of his lord's house, saying, Where- 
fore look ye so sadly to day ? 

8 And they said unto him, We have dreamed a 
dream, and there is no interpreter of it. And Joseph 
said unto them, Do not interpretations belong to 
God ? tell me them, I pray you. 



1 AND it came to pass after these things, that 
the butler of the king of Egypt and his baker 

2 offended their lord the king of Egypt. And 
Pharaoh was wroth against his two officers, 
against the chief of the butlers, and against the 

3 chief of the bakers. And he put them in ward 
in the house of the captain of the guard, into 
the prison, the place where Joseph was bound. 

4 And the captain of the guard charged Joseph 
with them, and he ministered unto them : and 

5 they continued a season in ward. And they 
dreamed a dream both of them, each man his 
dream, in one night, each man according to the 
interpretation of his dream, the butler and the 
baker of the king of Egypt, which were bound 

6 in the prison. And Joseph came in unto them 
in the morning, and saw them, and, behold, 

7 they were sad. And he asked Pharaoh's officers 
that were with him in ward in his master's 
house, saying, Wherefore look ye so sadly to-day ? 

8 And they said unto him, We have dreamed a 
dream, and there is none that can interpret it. 
And Joseph said unto them, Do not interpreta- 
tions belong to God? tell it me, I pray you. 



Chap. 40. Joseph Interprets the 
Dreams of his Fellow Prisoners. Eleven 
years had passed since Joseph was sold into 
Egypt, the greater part probably of which time 
he had spent in prison, and to human observa- 
tion the realization of his dreams seemed now 
a very distant if not absolutely impossible thing. 

1. After these things ; the things recorded 
in the previous chapter. The (chief) butler 
of the king of Egypt and his (chief) 
baker (ver. 2) offended their lord. The 
butler (or cupbearer; comp. ver. 11) was over- 
seer of the royal vineyards, as well as the 
cellars having, probably, hundreds of persons 
under him. The baker (or court purveyor) 
superintended everything pertaining to the 
providing and preparing of meats for the royal 
table. The monuments show that the ancient 
Egyptians carried the arts of the confectioner 
and cook to a high degree of perfection (see 
Wilkinson, Ancient Egypt, II., 33-39). Both 
of these officers were always persons of great 
rank and importance; this would result from 
the confidential nature of their employment, as 
well as from their having access to the royal 
presence. This office was once filled by Nehe- 
miah in the Persian court (Neh. 1 : 11), and his 
high consequence may be inferred from the 
fact that he received the appointment of gov- 
ernor of Judea, and was able from his own 
purse to bear the charges of that expensive 
office for several years ; and Eab-shakeh, one 
of the chief generals of the Assyrian host, was, 
as his name imports, chief cupbearer to his 

king (2 Kings 18 : 17). 

The crime for which these two servants of the 



king were impriscned is not stated. The con- 
jecture of Rabbi Jonathan is that both had con- 
spired to poison the king. 

3. He put them in ward (or in custody) ; 
until their case could be investigated. 

In the house of the captain of the 
guard ; that is, in the house of Potiphar, with 
which the State prison was connected. 

4. The captain of the guard charged 
Joseph with them ; not so much to guard 
them as criminals, as to be their attendant or 
servant to minister to their wants. The choice 
of Joseph to serve them was an insignificant cir- 
cumstance in itself, but one that had great influ- 
ence on his destiny. 

5. They dreamed a dream both of 
them. Dreams were the usual mode in which 
God (Elohim) revealed himself to heathen (comp. 

20:3; 41:1; Dan. 4:5). The theOphanieS of 

Jehovah to Abraham (comp. 12 : 7; 15 :i; is : 1) 
and to Jacob (2313; 32 = 24), and the visions 
granted to Daniel (Dan. 7 : 1-27 ; 10 : 5-9) and the 
prophets generally, though sometimes occurring 
in dreams, were probably of a higher form of 
divine manifestation. The butler and baker 
were greatly agitated over their dreams, and 
felt convinced that they portended something 
that was to happen to them. 

7. Wherefore look ye so sadly to day? 
Their dejected appearance excited Joseph's 
sympathy, and being courteous and kindly 
affectioned, he would know the cause that he 
might comfort them. His own hard fortune 
made him sympathetic. 

8. Do not interpretations belong to 
God ? As much as to say : " It is folly to look 



Ch. XL.] 



GENESIS 



221 



9 And the chief butler told his dream to Joseph, 
and said to him, In my dream, behold, a vine was 
before me ; 

10 And in the vine were three branches : and it 
was as though it budded, and her blossoms shot 
forth ; and the clusters thereof brought forth ripe 
grapes : 

11 And Pharaoh's cup was in my hand : and I 
took the grapes, and pressed them into Pharaoh's 
cup, and I gave the cup into Pharaoh's hand. 

12 And Joseph said unto him, This is the inter- 
pretation of it: The three branches are three 
days: 

13 Yet within three days shall Pharaoh lift up 
thine head, and restore thee unto thy place ; and 
thou shalt deliver Pharaoh's cup into his hand, 
after the former manner when thou wast his 
butler. 

14 But think on me when it shall be well with 
thee, and shew kindness, I pray thee, unto me, and 
make mention of me unto Pharaoh, and bring me 
out of this house : 

15 For indeed I was stolen away out of the land 
of the Hebrews : and here also have I done nothing 
that they should put me into the dungeon. 

16 When the chief baker saw that the interpreta- 
tion was good, he said unto Joseph, I also was in 
my dream, and, behold, I had three white baskets 
on my head : 



9 And the chief butler told his dream to Joseph, 
and said to him, In my dream, behold, a vine 

10 was before me ; and in the vine were three 
branches : and it was as though it budded, and 
its blossoms shot forth ; and the clusters thereof 

11 brought forth ripe grapes : and Pharaoh's cup 
was in my hand ; and I took the grapes, and 
pressed them into Pharaoh's cup, and I gave the 

12 cup into Pharaoh's hand. And Joseph said 
unto him, This is the interpretation of it: the 

13 three branches are three days ; within yet three 
days shall Pharaoh lift up thine head, and re- 
store thee unto thine office : and thou shalt give 
Pharaoh's cup into his hand, after the former 

14 manner when thou wast his butler. But have 
me in thy remembrance when it shall be well 
with thee, and shew kindness, I pray thee, unto 
me, and make mention of me uuto Pharaoh, 

15 and bring me out of this house : for indeed I 
was stolen away out of the land of the Hebrews : 
and here also have I done nothing that they 

16 should put me into the dungeon. When the 
chief baker saw that the interpretation was 
good, he said unto Joseph, I also was in my 
dream, and, behold, three baskets of white bread 



to the wise men and magicians for the interpre- 
tation of dreams, as is the practice among you ; 
the foretelling of the future belongs to God 
only." He would take no credit for superior 
wisdom or merit for declaring the import of 
their dreams, but modestly give all the glory to 
God. 

9. A vine was before me. From the 
statement of Herodotus (II., 77) who denies the 
existence of vines in ancient Egypt, and says 
that the Egyptian wine was made of barley ; and 
that of Plutarch (Is. et Osir., $ 6) that before 
the time of Psammeticus the Egyptians neither 
drank wine nor made libations thereof, the 
accuracy of this portion of the sacred narrative 
has been questioned by some. But both from 
ancient Egyptian monuments and ancient 
writers these statements have been proved to be 
entirely erroneous. " Eepresentations of the 
culture of the vine, the vintage, the stripping 
off the grapes, the carrying away the clusters, 
the two kinds of presses, one moved with the 
hands and the other by mechanical power, the 
putting up of the wine in jars, its removal to the 
cellar, the preparation of boiled wine, are seen 
depicted on monuments of the earliest dynasties 
found in the grottoes of Beni Hassan, a village 
of Upper Egypt " (Champollion). According 
to Rosellini, " seven different kinds of wine of 
Lower and Upper Egypt are represented in the 
inscriptions of the times of the Pharaohs." 

13. Yet within three days shall Pha- 
raoh lift up thine head ; that is, raise thee 
from thy degradation, and bring thee forth from 
prison. Thus the king of Babylon lifted up the 
head of Jehoiachin, king of Judah, and brought 



him forth OUt Of prison (2 Kings 25 : 27, 28 ; comp. Pa- 

3:3; Zech. 1:21). See also Ges., Thes., p. 914. In 
the confidence that his interpretation would 
prove correct, Joseph asks the chief butler to 
remember him, and speak on his behalf when 
he appeared before the king — a request for- 
gotten and unheeded for two long years (comp. 

41 : 1,9). 

15. I was stolen away. The term 
"stolen" very properly designates the act of 
Joseph's brethren ; for in selling him they took 
what was not theirs, and appropriated it to their 

OWn USe (comp. Exod. 21 : 16). 

The land of the Hebrews. Joseph thus 
names the land of Canaan, to identify himself 
with the Hebrews rather than with the Canaan- 
ites. The expression has been regarded as an 
interpolation of a later time (Bleek, Inirod., 
§ 80), but on insufficient grounds. 

[The designation of the descendants of Abra- 
ham as Hebrews is found in the alleged docu- 
ments J (39 : 14, 17) and E (40 : 15 : 41 : 12) } said to 

be the earliest, as well as in P (14 : i3) } said to be 
late. The designation, at least, represents the 
earliest recorded tradition of the Israelites to 
those who accept the critical partition. More 
and more these early traditions are being ac- 
credited as true.] 

16. I had three white baskets on my 
head, or, three baskets of ivhite bread were on 
my head. The favorable interpretation of the 
butler's dream encouraged the baker to tell his 
dream also. According to Herodotus (II., 35), 
Egyptian men commonly carried on their heads, 
and Egyptian women, like Hagar ( 21 : 14 ), on 
their shoulders. 



222 



GENESIS 



[Ch. XLI. 



17 And in the uppermost basket there ivas of all 
manner of bakemeats for Pharaoh ; and the birds 
did eat them out of the basket upon my head. 

18 And Joseph answered and said, This is the 
interpretation thereof: The three baskets are three 
days : 

19 Yet within three days shall Pharaoh lift up 
thy head from off thee, and shall hang thee on a 
tree ; and the birds shall eat thy flesh from off thee. 

20 And it came to pass the third day, ivhich ivas 
Pharaoh's birthday, that he made a feast unto ail 
his servants : and he lifted up the head of the chief 
butler and of the chief baker among his servants. 

21 And he restored the chief butler unto his but- 
lership again ; and he gave the cup into Pharaoh's 
hand : 

22 But he hanged the chief baker : as Joseph had 
interpreted to them. 

23 Yet did not the chief butler remember Joseph, 
but forgat him. 



17 were on my head : and in the uppermost basket 
there was of all manner of bakemeats for Pha- 
raoh ; and the birds did eat them out of the 

18 basket upon my head. And Joseph answered 
and said, This is the interpretation thereof: the 

19 three baskets are three days ; within yet three 
days shall Pharaoh lift up thy head from off 
thee, and shall hang thee on a tree; and the 

20 birds shall eat thy flesh from off thee. And it 
came to pass the third dav, which was Pharaoh's 
birthday, that he made a feast unto all his serv- 
ants: and he lifted up the head of the chief 
butler and the head of the chief baker among 

21 his servants. And he restored the chief butler 
unto his butlership again ; and he gave the cup 

22 into Pharaoh's hand : but he hanged the chief 

23 baker : as Joseph had interpreted to them. Yet 
did not the chief butler remember Joseph, but 
forgat him. 



CHAPTER XLI. 



1 AND it came to pass at the end of two full 
years, that Pharaoh dreamed : and, behold, he 
stood by the river. 

2 And, behold, there came up out of the river 
seven well favoured kine and fatfieshed ; and they 
fed in a meadow. 



1 AND it came to pass at the end of two full 
years, that Pharaoh dreamed : and, behold, he 

2 stood by the river. And, behold, there came up 
out of the river seven kine, well favoured and 
fatfieshed ; and they fed in the reed-grass. 



17. The birds did eat them out of the 
basket. "In crossing the open courts, from 
the kitchen to the dining-rooms, the abstraction 
of the viands by a vulture, eagle, ibis, or other 
rapacious bird, was a frequent occurrence in 
the palaces of Egypt, as it is an everyday inci- 
dent in the hot countries of the East still. The 
risk from these carnivorous birds was the greater 
in the cities of Egypt, that being held sacred, 
it was unlawful to destroy them ; and they 
swarmed in such numbers as to be a great an- 
noyance to the people." 

19. Yet Avithin three days shall Pha- 
raoh lift up thy head from oif thee. 
Pharaoh lifted up the heads of both ; but in 
different ways, as the verses immediately fol- 
lowing relate. 

And shall hang thee on a tree ; that is, 
after decapitation (comp. Deut. 21 : 22, 23 ; josh. 10 : 26 ; 
2 Sam. 4:12), which was probably the mode of 
capital punishment practised at that time in 
Egypt, though some think the clause descriptive 
of the way in which the baker's life was to be 
taken from him, namely, either by crucifixion 
or by hanging. 



Chap. 41. Pharaoh's Dreams, and Jo- 
seph's Interpretation of Them. 1. At 
the end of two full years (lit., tioo years of 
days ; that is, two complete years ; comp. 29 : 
14; 2 Sam. 29 : 13 ; Dan. 10 : 2, 3 ; Driver, § 192, 
1 ; Ewald, \ 287, h). It is not certain whether 
these years are reckoned from the beginning of 
Joseph's imprisonment, or from the butler's 
liberation — most likely the latter. And what 
yearax>f the sickness of hope deferred they were ! 



Pharaoh dreamed. As numerous inscrip- 
tions show, the Egyptians attached great im- 
portance to dreams. They were regarded as 
sent by the god Thoth, and various recipes were 
prescribed for obtaining them. The Egyptian 
monarch would naturally be greatly impressed 
by two such extraordinary dreams as those which 
came to him in the same night, and would be 
very anxious to find out their meaning (ver. 8). 

Modern Egyptologists are divided in opinion 
as to the Pharaoh that occupied the throne of 
Egypt at this time. Most authorities favor 
Apophis, a Shepherd king of the fifteenth 
dynasty, whose capital was On or Heliopolis ; 
and who is universally acknowledged to have 
I been a patriot king (Osburn, Monumental His- 
i iory, Vol. II., chap. 2). Canon Cook {Speaker's 
Commentary, Vol. I., p. 451), regards it as at 
least "a very probable conjecture" that the 
Pharaoh of Joseph was Amenemha III. 

He stood by the river ; that is, the Nile, 
upon the annual overflow of which the fertility 
of Egypt depends. The word liK" 1 , yeor, here 
employed, is an Egyptian word, and is always 
applied to the Nile, except in Dan. 12 : 5, 6. 7. 

2. There came up out of the river 
seven kine, or, heifers, as the Hebrew word 
is properly rendered in Num. 19 : 2, 5, 6, 9 ; 
Hosea 4 : 16. The Egyptian religion— at least 
the part of it that was received through the 
whole country, and not in some localities only — 
was closely connected with the phenomena of 
the Nile. In its rise it was called Osiris, the 
fructifier of the land, and was symbolized by the 
sacred bull, called Apis. In its overflow it bore 
the name of his wife and sister, Isis, the goddess 



Cn. XLL] 



GENESIS 



223 



3 And, behold, seven other kine came up after 
them out of the river, ill favoured and leanfleshed ; 
and stood by the other kine upon the brink of the 
river. 

4 And the ill favoured and leanfleshed kine did 
eat up the seven well favoured and fat kine. So 
Pharaoh awoke. 

5 And he slept and dreamed the second time : 
and, behold, seven ears of corn came up upon one ! 
stalk, rank and good. 

6 And, behold, seven thin ears and blasted with 
the east wind sprung up after them. 

7 And the seven thin ears devoured the seven j 
rank and full ears. And Pharaoh awoke, and, be- | 
hold, it was a dream. 

8 And it came to pass in the morning that his 
spirit was troubled ; and he sent and called for all 
the magicians of Egypt, and all the wise men there- 
of : and Pharaoh told them his dream ; but there 
teas none that could interpret them unto Pharaoh. 

9 Then spake the chief butler unto Pharaoh, say- 
iDg, I do remember my faults this day : 

10 Pharaoh was wroth with his servants, and put 
me in ward in the captain of the guard's house, 
both me and the chief baker : 

11 And we dreamed a dream in one night, 1 and 
he; we dreamed each man according to the inter- 
pretation of his dream. 

12 And there was there with us ;; young man. a 
Hebrew, servant to the captain of the guard ; and 
we told him, and he interpreted to us our dreams ; j 
to each man according to his dream he did interpret, j 

13 And it came to pass, as he interpreted to us, so 
it was ; me he restored unto mine office, and him 
he hanged. 

14 Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and 
they brought him hastily out of the dungeon : and 
he shaved himself, and changed his raiment, and 
came in unto Pharaoh. 



3 And, behold, seven other kine came up after 
them out of the river, ill favoured and lean- 
fleshed ; and stood by the other kine upon the 

4 brink of the river. And the ill favoured and 
leanfleshed kine did eat up the seven well fa- 

5 voured and fat kine. So Pharaoh awoke. And 
he slept and dreamed a second time : and, be- 
hold, seven ears of corn came up upon one stalk, 

6 rank and good. And, behold, seven ears, thin 
and blasted with the east wind, sprung up after 

7 them. And the thin ears swallowed up the 
seven rank and full ears. And Pharaoh awoke, 

8 and, behold, it was a dream. And it came to 
pass in the morning that his spirit was troubled ; 
and he sent and called for all the magicians of 
Egypt, and all the wise men thereof : and Pha- 
raoh told them his dream ; but there was none 

9 that could interpret them unto Pharaoh. Then 
spake the chief butler unto Pharaoh, saying, I 

10 do remember my faults this day : Pharaoh was 
wroth with his servants, and put me in ward in 
the house of the captain of the guard, me and 

11 the chief baker: and we dreamed a dream in 
one night, I and he ; we dreamed each man ac- 

12 cording to the interpretation of his dream. And 
there was with us there a young man, an He- 
brew, servant to the captain'of the guard; and 
we told him, and he interpreted to us our 
dreams ; to each man according to his dream he 

13 did interpret. And it came to pass, as he inter- 
preted to us, so it was ; me he restored unto 

14 mine office, and him he hanged. Then Pharaoh 
sent and called Joseph, and they brought him 
hastily out of the dungeon : and he shaved him- 
self, and changed his raiment, and came in 



of fecundity, who instructed their ancestors in 
the art of agriculture, and was worshiped under 
the symbol of a cow, or with the head of a cow, 
as is constantly seen on the monuments. It 
was therefore natural that the seven successive 
prosperous years should be represented by seven 
thriving cows. Both the fat and lean cows 
coming out of the river signified that from it 
came both plenty and want in Egypt. 

They fed in a meadow {the reed-grass). 
The original word, *n$*, 'achu, appears to be an 
Egyptian term descriptive of any herbage grow- 
ing in wet grounds, as the margin of a river. It 
occurs only here and in ver. 18 and Job 8 : 11. 
In the last-named passage Bildad asks: "Can 
the flag grow without water ? " 

5. Seven ears of corn (heads of ivheat) 
came up upon one stalk. The reference, 
probably, is to the Triticum compositum, which 
bears several ears upon one stalk, or one ear 
branching into several spikes. The language 
betokens extraordinary fertility. 

6. Blasted with the east wind. This 
was probably the southeast wind coming from 
the desert — the withering wind called Cham- 



seen, which, says Ukert, "works destruction 
upon everything. The grass withers so that it 
entirely perishes if this wind bloAvs long." 

8. The magicians of Egypt, and all 
the wise men thereof. The magicians were 
" men of the priestly caste, who occupied them- 
selves with the sacred arts and sciences of the 
Egyptians, the hieroglyphic writings, astrology, 
the interpretation of dreams, the foretelling of 
events, magic, and conjuring, and who were re- 
garded as the possessors of secret arts (see Exod. 
T : n) and the wise men of the nation." Unlike 
the wise men of Babylon, who promised to un- 
ravel Nebuchadnezzar's dream as soon as it was 
made known to them, these Egyptian magicians 
could not interpret Pharaoh's after he had re- 
lated it. They preferred to confess their igno- 
rance rather than risk the consequences of an 
interpretation that might prove false and make 
them liars. When the time comes for the Lord 
to bring Joseph out of prison, the butler 
remembers his faults. 

14. Shaved himself; according to the cus- 
tom of the Egyptians, who allowed the hair and 
beard to grow only when in mourning. 1 They 



i "Though foreigners, who were brought to Egypt as slaves, had beards on their arrival, we find that 
so soon as they were employed in the service of this civilized people, they were obliged to conform to the 
cleanly habits of their masters; their beards and heads were shaved, and they adopted a close cap" 
(Wilkinson). 



224 



GENESIS 



[Ch. XLI. 



15 And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, I have dreamed 
a dream, and there is none that can interpret it : 
and I have heard say of thee, that thou canst under- 
stand a dream to interpret it. 

16 And Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, It is 
not in me : God shall give Pharaoh an answer of 
peace. 

17 And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, In my dream, 
behold, I stood upon the bank of the river : 

18 And, behold, there came up out of the river 
seven kine, fatfleshed and well favoured ; and they 
fed in a meadow : 

19 And, behold, seven other kine came up after 
them, poor and very ill favoured and leanfleshed, 
such as I never saw in all the land of Egypt for 
badness : 

20 And the lean and the ill favoured kine did eat 
up the first seven fat kine : 

21 And when they had eaten them up, it could not 
be known that they had eaten them ; but they were 
still ill favoured, as at the beginning. So I awoke. 

22 And I saw in my dream, and, behold, seven 
ears came up in one stalk, full and good : 

23 And, behold, seven ears, withered, thin, and 
blasted with the east wind, sprung up after them : 

24 And the thin ears devoured the seven good 
ears : and I told this unto the magicians ; but there 
was none that could declare it to me. 

25 And Joseph said unto Pharaoh, The dream of 
Pharaoh is one : God hath shewed Pharaoh what he 
is about to do. 

26 The seven good kine are seven years ; and the 
seven good ears are seven years ; the dream is one. 

27 And the seven thin and ill favoured kine that 
came up after them are seven years ; and the seven 
empty ears blasted with the east wind shall be 
seven years of famine. 

28 This is the thing which I have spoken unto 
Pharaoh : What God is about to do he sheweth unto 
Pharaoh. 

29 Behold, there come seven years of great plenty 
throughout all the land of Egypt : 

30 And there shall arise after them seven years 
of famine ; and all the plenty shall be forgotten in 
the land of Egypt ; and the famine shall consume 
the land ; 

31 And the plenty shall not be known in the 
land by reason of that famine following ; for it 
shall be very grievous. 

32 And for that the dream was doubled unto 
Pharaoh twice ; it is because the thing is established 
by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass. 

33 Now therefore let Pharaoh look out a man dis- 
creet and wise, and set him over the land of Egypt. 

34 Let Pharaoh do this, and let him appoint offi- 
cers over the land, and take up the fifth part of the 
land of Egypt in the seven plenteous years. 



15 unto Pharaoh, And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, 
I have dreamed a dream, and there is none that 
can interpret it : and I have heard say of thee, 
that when thou hearest a dream thou canst in- 

16 terpret it. And Joseph answered Pharaoh, say- 
ing, It is not in me : God shall give Pharaoh an 

17 answer of peace. And Pharaoh spake unto 
Joseph, In my dream, behold, I stood upon the 

18 brink of the river : and, behold, there came up 
out of the river seven kine, fatfleshed and well 

19 favoured ; and they fed in the reed -grass : and, 
behold, seven other kine came up after them, 
poor and very ill favoured and leanfleshed, such 
as I never saw in all the land of Egypt for bad- 

20 ness : and the lean and ill favoured kine did eat 

21 up the first seven fat kine : and when they had 
eaten them up, it could not be known that they 
had eaten them ; but they were still ill favoured, 

22 as at the beginning. So I awoke. And I saw in 
my dream, and, behold, seven ears came up 

23 upon one stalk, full and good : and, behold, 
seven ears, withered, thin, and blasted with the 

24 east wind, sprung up after them : and the thin 
ears swallowed up the seven good ears: and I 
told it unto the magicians ; but there was none 

25 that could declare it to me. And Joseph said 
unto Pharaoh, The dream of Pharaoh is one: 
what God is about to do he hath declared unto 

26 Pharaoh. The seven good kine are seven years ; 
and the seven good ears are seven years: the 

27 dream is one. And the seven lean and ill fa- 
voured kine that came up after them are seven 
years, and also the seven empty ears blasted 
with the east wind ; they shall be seven years of 

28 famine. That is the thing which I spake unto 
Pharaoh : what God is about to do he hath 

29 shewed unto Pharaoh. Behold, there come 
seven years of great plenty throughout all the 

30 land of Egypt : and there shall arise after them 
seven years of famine ; and all the plenty shall 
be forgotten in the land of Egypt; and the 

31 famine shall consume the land ; and the plenty 
shall not be known in the land by reason of that 
famine which followeth : for it shall be very 

32 grievous. And for that the dream was doubled 
unto Pharaoh twice, it is because the thing is 
established by God, and God will shortly bring 

33 it to pass. Now therefore let Pharaoh look out 
a man discreet and wise, and set him over the 

34 land of Egypt. Let Pharaoh do this, and let him 
appoint overseers over the land, and take up the 
fifth patt of the land of Egypt in the seven 



differed thus from the Hebrews who shaved off 
the hair and beard only when in mourning (see 

Jer. 41 : 5; 48 : 37). 

16. It is not in me. Joseph could not of 
himself interpret the dream, it must be by 
divine aid. 

An answer of peace ; that is, one that 
would remove Pharaoh's fears, and promote his 
good and that of his people. 

17-24. Pharaoh retains the dream in its 
minutest particulars, so strongly had it im- 
pressed his mind. In this recital he mentions 
that the appearance of the lean and ill-favored 
kine was not altered for the better after they 
had eaten up the well-favored kine. This sig- 
nified that the gathered abundance of the years 
of plenty would be far from affording a com- 



petent supply for all the subsequent years, and 
that the people would still be in a destitute and 
famishing condition. 

25. The dream of Pharaoh is one ; in 
design and import, though consisting of two 
parts. The repetition of the dream in two differ- 
ent forms was designed to show that the public 
crisis was certain and near at hand (ver. 32). 

33. Now therefore let Pharaoh look 
out a man discreet and wise. Joseph 
seems to have acted somewhat presumptuously 
in proffering an advice that was not solicited ; 
but more was doubtless said than is recorded. 
Perhaps Pharaoh asked Joseph if he had any 
suggestions to offer. 

34. Take up the fifth part of the land 
of Egypt ; that is, let him exact a fifth of the 



Ch. XLI.j 



GENESIS 



225 



35 And let them gather all the food of those good 
years that come, and lay up corn under the hand of 
Pharaoh, and let them keep food in the cities. 

36 And that food shall be for store to the land 
against the seven years of famine, which shall be 
in the land of Egypt ; that the land perish not 
through the famine. 

37 And the thing was good in the eyes of Pha- 
raoh, and in the eyes of all his servants. 

38 And Pharaoh said unto his servants, Can we 
find such a one as this is, a man in whom the Spirit 
of God is f 

39 And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, Forasmuch as 
God hath shewed thee all this, there is none so 
discreet and wise as thou art : 

40 Thou shalt be over my house, and according 
unto thy word shall all my people be ruled : only 
in the throne will I be greater than thou. 

41 And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, See, I have set 
thee over all the land of Egypt. 

42 And Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand, 
and put it upon Joseph's hand, and arrayed him in 
vestures of fine linen, and put a gold chain about 
his neck ; 

43 And he made him to ride in the second chariot 
which he had; and they cried before him, Bow the 
knee : and he made him ruler over all the land of 
Egypt. 

44 And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, I am Pharaoh, 
and without thee shall no man lift up his hand or 
foot in all the land of Egypt. 

45 And Pharaoh called Joseph's name Zaphnath- 
paaneah; and he gave him to wife Asenath the 
daughter of Poti-pherah priest of On. And Joseph 
went out over all the land of Egypt. 



35 plenteous years. And let them gather all the 
food of these good years that come, and lay up 
corn under the hand of Pharaoh for food in the 

36 cities, and let them keep it. And the food shall 
be for a store to the land against the seven years 
of famine, which shall be in the land of Egypt ; 
that the land perish not through the famine. 

37 And the thing was good in the eyes of Pharaoh, 

38 and in the eyes of all his servants. And Pharaoh 
said unto his servants, Can we find such a one 
as this, a man in whom the spirit of God is ? 

39 And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, Forasmuch as 
God hath shewed thee all this, there is none so 

40 discreet and wise as thou : thou shalt be over my 
house, and according unto thy word shall all 
my people be ruled : only in the throne will I be 

41 greater than thou. And Pharaoh said unto 
Joseph, See, I have set thee over all the land of 

42 Egypt. And Pharaoh took off his signet ring 
from his hand, and put it upon Joseph's hand, 
and arrayed him in vestures of fine linen, and 

43 put a gold chain about his neck ; and he made 
him to ride in the second chariot which he had; 
and they cried before him, Bow the knee : and 

44 he set him over all the land of Egypt. And 
Pharaoh said unto Joseph, I am Pharaoh, and 
without thee shall no man lift up his hand or 

45 his foot in all the land of Egypt. And Pharaoh 
called Joseph's name Zaphenath-paneah ; and 
he gave him to wife Asenath the daughter of 
Poti-phera priest of On. And Joseph went out 



produce of the land. The Hebrew is literally 
"let him fifth the land" (comp. the English 
phrase "to tithe the land"). It is not clear 
whether Joseph is to be understood as advising 
the purchase of a fifth of the produce of the 
land, or the imposition of a tax amounting to a 
fifth. If the latter, which is the better sup- 
ported view, this would be double the usual 
annual impost exacted from Egyptian farmers ; 
but the unprecedented fertility of the soil during 
the seven years immediately coming would 
enable them to bear it without oppression. 

35. Let them . . . lay up corn ... food 
in the cities ; that is, let them make grana- 
ries of food in the different cities. 

40. Thou shalt he over my house. A 
deep conviction in the mind both of the king 
and his councilors that a divine spirit animated 
Joseph paved the way for his promotion. He 
was the first to reap the fruit of the excellent 
advice he had given (comp. Ps. 105 : 21, 22). 

According unto thy word shall all my 
people he ruled; lit., kiss. " This refers to 
the edict granting official power to Joseph, to 
be issued in the form of a firman, as in all 
Oriental countries : and all who should receive 
that order would kiss it, according to the usual 
Eastern mode of acknowledging obedience and 
respect for the sovereign" (Wilkinson). 

42, 43. The insignia of office with which 
Joseph was invested are specified — which were : 
the signet ring, used for signing public documents 



(comp. Esther 3 : 10 ; 8 : 2, 8, 10) ; the dreSS of honor, 

a coat of finely wrought linen, or rather cotton, 
worn only by the highest class in the realm; 
riding in the second chariot — the chariot, that 
is, immediately following the king's in the state 
procession ; and the crying of heralds before 
him, ^"pX, abhrek, which is probably the 
Hebrew form of an Egyptian word, signifying 
"bow the knee" (see Brugsch, Geschichte, p. 
247). 

45. Pharaoh called Joseph's name 
Zaphnath-paaneah. This name is prob- 
ably Egyptian, and signifies, as the majority of 
critics think, " saviour of the land." In ancient 
times it was not unusual for persons to receive 
new names on their coming under new masters 
(see 2 Kings 23 : 34 ; Dan. i : 7) . Pharaoh also honored 
Joseph by giving him the daughter of the priest 
of On to wife. By this alliance with a family 
of high distinction his naturalization was com- 
pleted. 

On, called Aven (Ezek. 30 : it), and also Beth- 
shemesh (Jer. « : 13 ), was situated on the east 
side of the Nile in the land of Goshen, about 
five miles from modern Cairo. It is known in 
general history by its Greek name Heliopolis 
(meaning city of the sun), which corresponds to 
its sacred Egyptian name Ha-Ea, of the same 
import, because the sun was the principal object 
of worship in the city. The priests constituted 
the highest class in the realm. The king might 
be of this class or of the military class ; if of the 



226 



GENESIS 



[Ch. XLII. 



46 And Joseph was thirty years old when he 
stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Joseph 
went out from the presence of Pharaoh, and went 
throughout all the land of Egypt. 

47 And in the seven plenteous years the earth 
brought forth by handfuls. 

48 And he gathered up all the food of the seven 
years, which were in the land of Egypt, and laid up 
the food in the cities : the food of the field, which 
was round about every city, laid he up in the same. 

49 And Joseph gathered corn as the sand of the 
sea, very much, until he left numbering ; for it was 
without number. 

50 And unto Joseph were born two sons, before the 
years of famine came : which Asenath the daughter 
of Poti-pherah priest of On bare unto him. 

51 And Joseph called the name of the firstborn 
Manasseh : For God, said he, hath made me forget 
all my toil, and all my father's house. 

52 And the name of the second called he Ephra- 
im : For God hath caused me to be fruitful in the 
land of my affliction. 

53 And the seven years of plenteousness that was 
in the land of Egypt, were ended. 

54 And the seven years of dearth began to come, 
according as Joseph had said : and the dearth was 
in all lands ; but in all the land of Egypt there was 
bread. 

55 And when all the land of Egypt was famished, 
the people cried to Pharaoh for bread : and Pharaoh 
said unto all the Egyptians, Go unto Joseph ; what 
hesaith to you, do. 

56 And the famine was over all the face of the 
earth : and Joseph opened all the storehouses, and 
sold unto the Egyptians ; and the famine waxed 
sore in the land of Egypt. 

57 And all countries came into Egypt to Joseph 
for to buy corn; because that the famine was so 
sore in all lands. 



46 over the land of Egypt. And Joseph was thirty 
years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of 
Egypt. And Joseph went out from the presence 
of Pharaoh, and went throughout all the land of 

47 Egypt. And in the seven plenteous years the 

48 earth brought forth by handfuls. And he gath- 
ered up all the food of the seven years which 
were in the land of Egypt, and laid up the food 
in the cities: the food of the field, which was 
round about every city, laid he up in the same. 

49 And Joseph laid up corn as the sand of the sea, 
very much, until he left numbering; for it was 

50 without number. And unto Joseph were born 
two sons before the year of famine came, which 
Asenath the daughter of Poti-phera priest of On 

51 bare unto him. And Joseph called the name of 
the firstborn Manasseh : For, said he, God hath 
made me forget all my toil, and all my father's 

52 house. And the name of the second called he 
Ephraim : For God hath made me fruitful in the 

53 land of my affliction. And the seven years of 
plenty, that was in the land of Egypt, came to 

54 an end. And the seven years of famine began 
to come, according as Joseph had said: and 
there was famine in all lands ; but in all the 

55 land of Egypt there was bread. And when all 
the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried 
to Pharaoh for bread: and Pharaoh said unto 
all the Egyptians, Go unto Joseph ; what he 

56 saith to you, do. And the famine was over all 
the face of the earth : and Joseph opened all the 
storehouses, and sold unto the Egyptians ; and 

57 the famine was sore in the land of Egypt. And 
all countries came into Egypt to Joseph for to 
buy corn ; because the famine was sore in all 
the earth. 



CHAPTER XLII. 

1 NOW when Jacob saw that there was corn in | 1 NOW Jacob saw that there was corn in Egypt, 



latter, it was necessary for him to be initiated 
into the former. 

Joseph went out over the land of 
Egypt; in the discharge of his vice-regal 
duties, arranging for granaries and appointing 
officers to grapple with the seven years of 
famine which were imminent. 

46. Joseph was thirty years old when 
he stood before Pharaoh. As Joseph was 
seventeen years old when sold by his brothers, 
he was thirteen years a slave, three of which at 
least he spent in the prison. 

47. The earth brought forth by hand- 
fuls. The exuberant fertility of the land is 
shown in the fact that, from the superabun- 
dance of the seven plenteous years, corn enough 
was laid up for the subsistence, not only of its 
home population^ but of the neighboring coun- 
tries, during the seven years of dearth (see ver. 49). 

50-52, Unto Joseph were two sons 
born before the years of famine came. 
As was customary with the Hebrews, Joseph 
gave significant names to his sons. The first he 
named Manasseh, which signifies forgetting or 
causing to forget. The memory of his toil was 
comparatively lost in the happiness that had 
now succeeded. 



The name of the second called he 
Ephraim ; that is, fruitful, as he immediately 
after explains it. Joseph appears to have had 
no more children, but he was fruitful in his 
descendants, especially by Ephraim. Jacob evi- 
dently alludes to the fruitfulness of Ephraim 
in the blessings he pronounces upon Joseph: 
" Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful 
bough by a well, whose branches run over a 

Wall" (« : 22). 

57. The famine was sore in all lands, 

or, the earth. The countries bordering on 
Egypt are specially meant, as Canaan, Syria, 
and Arabia. 



Chap. 42. The Fiest Visit of Joseph's 
Brethren to Egypt. Twenty years have 
passed since Joseph was sold into Egypt. As 
he was thirty years old when he stood before 
Pharaoh (« : ^), if the seven years of plenty 
began soon after his elevation — which is the 
natural construction of the narrative, he would 
now be thirty-seven years of age. 

I. Jacob saw (that is, learned from others 
[ver. 2]) that there was corn in Egypt. 
The verb H^,, raah, to see, is often used in the 
sense to understand or to have a perception of a 



Ch. XLIL] 



GENESIS 



227 



Egypt, Jacob said unto his sons, Why do ye look 
one upon another? 

2 And he said, Behold, I have heard that there is 
corn in Egypt : get you down thither, and buy for 
us from thence ; that we may live, and not die. 

3 And Joseph's ten brethren went down to buy 
corn in Egypt. 

4 But Benjamin, Joseph's brother, Jacob sent not i 
with his brethren ; for he said, Lest peradventure 
mischief befall him. 

5 And the sons of Israel came to buy corn among 
those that came : for the famine was in the land of 
Canaan. 

6 And Joseph ivas the governor over the land, 
and he it was that sold to all the people of the land : 
and Joseph's brethren came, and bowed down 
themselves before him with their faces to the earth. 

7 And Joseph saw his brethren, and he knew 
them, but made himself strange unto them, and 
spake roughly unto them ; and he said unto them, 
Whence come ye? And they said, From the land 
of Canaan to buy food. 

8 And Joseph knew his brethren, but they knew 
not him. 

9 And Joseph remembered the dreams which he 
dreamed of them, and said unto them, Ye are spies ; 
to see the nakedness of the land ye are come. 

10 And they said unto him, Nay, my lord, but to 
buy food are thy servants come. 

11 We are all one man's sons; we are true men ; 
thy servants are no spies. 



and Jacob said unto his sons, Why do ye look 

2 one upon another ? And he said, Behold, I have 
heard that there is corn in Egypt : get you down 
thither, and buy for us from thence ; that we may 

3 live, and not die. And Joseph's ten brethren 

4 went down to buy corn from Egypt. But Benja- 
min, Joseph's brother, Jacob sent not with his 
brethren ; for he said, Lest peradventure mis- 

5 chief befall him. And the sons of Israel came 
to buy among those that came : for the famine 

6 was in the land of Canaan. And Joseph was the 
governor over the land ; he it was that sold to 
all the people of the land : and Joseph's brethren 
came, and bowed down themselves to him with 

7 their faces to the earth. And Joseph saw his 
brethren, and he knew them, but made himself 
strange unto them, and spake roughly with 
them; and he said unto them, Whence come 
ye ? And they said, From the land of Canaan to 

8 buy food. And Joseph knew his brethren, but 

9 they knew not him. And Joseph remembered 
the dreams which he dreamed of them, and said 
unto them. Ye are spies ; to see the nakedness of 

10 the land ye are come. And they said unto him, 
Nay, my "lord, but to buy food are thy servants 

11 come. We are all one man's sons ; we are true 



thing, whether by the sense of seeing or any- 
other (see Exod. 20 : 18 ; Isa. 64 ; 4 ; Eev. 1 : 12). 

Why do ye look one upon another? 

That is, in perplexity and despair. Jacob 
rouses his hesitating sons from their torpor, and 
they undertake a journey to Egypt to purchase 
corn. Benjamin, however, is not sent with his 
brethren, lest some mischief should befall him. 
He has evidently taken Joseph's place in his 
father's affections ; and his father, who knew 
how Joseph had been envied by his brethren, 
and had had some experience of the violent 
character of Simeon and Levi, may not have 
felt quite sure that Benjamin would be safe with 
them. 

5. Among those that came. Many be- 
sides the sons of Jacob would be going to Egypt 
for corn, and many would join together, and 
form large caravans for mutual aid and pro- 
tection. 

For the famine was in the land of 
Canaan. "The same causes which led to a 
diminution of rain in the Abyssinian moun- 
tains, and with it of the waters of the Nile, 
brought drought and famine to Palestine." 

6. He it was that sold ; that is, the sell- 
ing was done under his supervision. In the 
present case, for reasons in his own mind, he 
required the applicants for food to appear before 
himself. 



Joseph's brethren came, and bowed 
down themselves before him. Here was 
a literal fulfilment of Joseph's first dream 

(37:7). 

7. Spake roughly unto {with) them ; his 
object being, doubtless, to bring them to a just 
sense of their guilt. He never indulged any 
resentment against those who had injured him. 
Beneath the rough exterior which he assumed, 
there beat a heart full of tender regard for his 
brethren — too full to be restrained (ver. 24 ; 45 : i) ; 
and showing itself in acts of forbearance and 
kindness (ver. 19 ; 43 : 16). " It has been thought 
strange that he should have caused his father, 
and his own innocent brother, so much pain. 
But this was unavoidably incident to his main 
purpose, which was just and laudable." 

8. They knew not him. They had not 
seen him for twenty years, during which time 
his countenance would have undergone great 
change. Besides, they would not dream of his 
exalted position, and would now see him in his 
official robes. 

9. Ye are spies. This accusation was a 
quite natural one, as Egypt was always most 
liable to be assailed from the east and northeast 
(see Herod. III., 5). 1 Joseph persists in charg- 
ing them with being spies (ver. 12, 14) t and thus 
draws from them a more particular description 
of their family, which was what he desired. 



1 " The charge suits well with the highest officer of state under the Hyksos (see on 12 : 15). For these, 
according to Manetho, were in constant dread of attacks from the then powerful Assyrians. Those who 
came from Asia might well be treated as Assyrian spies, especially the sons of Jacob who, from their 
Chaldean origin, bore a resemblance to the eastern Semites" (Knobel, die Genesis erkldrt, p. 321). 



228 



GENESIS 



[Ch. XLI1. 



12 And he said unto them, Nay, but to see the 
nakedness of the land ye are come. 

13 And they said, Thy servants are twelve breth- 
ren, the sous of one man in the land of Canaan ; 
and, behold, the youngest is this day with our 
father, and one is not. 

14 And Joseph said unto them, That is it that I 
spake unto you, saying, Ye are spies : 

15 Hereby ye shall be proved : By the life of 
Pharaoh ye shall not go forth hence, except your 
youngest brother come hither. 

16 Send one of you, and let him fetch your 
brother, and ye shall be kept in prison, that your 
words may be proved, whether there be any truth in 
you : or else by the life of Pharaoh surely ye are 
spies. 

17 And he put them all together into ward three 
daj T s. 

18 And Joseph said unto them the third day, 
This do, and live ; for I fear God : 

19 If ye be true men, let one of your brethren be 
bound in the house of your prison : go ye, carry 
corn for the famine of your houses : 

20 But bring your youngest brother unto me ; so 
shall your words be verified, and ye shall not die. 
And they did so. 

21 And they said one to another, We are verily 
guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the 
anguish of his soul, when he besought us, and we 
would not hear; therefore is this distress come 
upon us. 

22 And Reuben answered them, saying, Spake I 
not unto you, saying, Do not sin against the child ; 
and ye would not hear? therefore, behold, also his 
blood is required. 

23 And they knew not that Joseph understood 
them; for he spake unto them by an interpreter. 

24 And he turned himself about from them, and 
wept ; and returned to them again, and communed 
with them, and took from them Simeon, and bound 
him before their eyes. 

25 Then Joseph commanded to fill their sacks 
with corn, and to restore every man's money into 
his sack, and to give them provision for the way : 
and thus did he unto them. 

26 And they laded their asses with the corn, and 
departed thence. 

27 And as one of them opened his sack to give 
his ass provender in the inn, he espied his money ; 
for, behold, it was in his sack's mouth. 



12 men, thy servants are no spies. And he said 
unto them, Nay, but to see the nakedness of the 

13 land ye are come. And they said, We thy serv- 
ants are twelve brethren, the sons of one man 
in the land of Canaan ; and, behold, the young- 
est is this day with our father, and one is not. 

14 And Joseph said unto them, That is it that I 

15 spake unto you, saying, Ye are spies : hereby ye 
shall be proved : by the life of Pharaoh ye shall 
not go forth hence, except your youngest brother 

16 come hither. Send one of you, and let him 
fetch your brother, and ye shall be bound, that 
your words may be proved, whether there be 
truth in you: or else by the life of Pharaoh 

17 surely ye are spies. And he put them all together 

18 into ward three days. And Joseph said unto 
them the third day, This do, and live ; for 1 fear 

19 God : if ye be true men, let one of your brethren 
be bound in your prison house ; but go ye, carry 

20 corn for the famine of your houses : and bring 
your youngest brother unto me ; so shall your 
words be verified, and ye shall not die. And 

21 they did so. And they said one to another, We 
are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that 
we saw the distress of his soul, when he besought 
us, and we would not hear ; therefore is this dis- 

22 tress come upon us. And Reuben answered 
them, saying, Spake I not unto you, saying, Do 
not sin against the child ; and ye would not 
hear? therefore also, behold, his blood is re- 

23 quired. And they knew not that Joseph under- 
stood them ; for there was an interpreter between 

24 them. And he turned himself about from them, 
and wept ; and he returned to them, and spake 
to them, and took Simeon from among them, 

25 and bound him before their eyes. Then Joseph 
commanded to fill their vessels with corn, and 
to restore every man's money into his sack, and 
to give them provision for the way : and thus 

26 was it done unto them. And they laded their 
asses with their corn, and departed thence. 

27 And as one of them opened his sack to give his 
ass provender in the lodging place, he espied his 
money ; and, behold, it was in the mouth of his 



15. By the life of Pharaoh. This was a 
common form of asseveration among the Egyp- 
tians, equivalent to the phrase: "As the Lord 
liveth," among the Hebrews. Joseph spoke in 
the style of an Egyptian, not probably being 
conscious of any evil in doing so. In the light 
of New Testament teaching, all such expres- 
sions must be regarded as an oath (Matt. 5 : 34, 37 ; 

James 5 : 12). 

Except your youngest brother come 
hither. If Joseph accepted their statement 
as true, their case would be clear ; but acting 
on the assumption that they spoke falsely, he 
would have them prove their veracity by pro- 
ducing Benjamin. 

17. He put them all together into 
ward three days. Ostensibly because of 
their unwillingness to accede to his proposal, 
but in reality to try them. 

21. We are verily guilty concerning 
our brother. The words of Joseph, who is 
yet unknown to them, awake their long-slum- 



bering memories, and their long-suppressed 
convictions of guilt find expression. They now 
look upon what has happened to them as a 
divine retribution. 

24. Took Simeon from among them. 
He took Simeon, probably because he was the 
next in age to Reuben, whom he would not 
bind as having been the brother who sought to 
save him, or possibly, as some think, because 
Simeon had taken a prominent part in selling 
him. 

25. To fill their sacks (vessels) with 
corn. It would seem that the travelers carried 
two kinds of bags, one for the corn, called 7 2, 
keli (ver. 25 and 43 : n) j properly rendered "ves- 
sel," and another for the asses' provender, 
called nnnpi?, 'amtachath (ver. 27, 28), and also 

pty, saq (ver. 27, 35, and throughout chap. 43 and 44). The 

money had been placed in the second named of 
these. 

27. In the lodging place ; not "inn" as 
in the Authorized version, for such house, in 



Ch. XLIII.] 



GENESIS 



229 



28 And he said unto his brethren, My money is 
restored ; and, lo, it is even in my sack : and their 
heart failed them, and they were afraid, saying one 
to another, What is this that God hath done unto us ? 

29 And they came unto Jacob their father unto 
the land of Canaan, and told him all that befell 
unto them ; saying, 

30 The man, who is the lord of the land, spake 
roughly unto us, and took us for spies of the 
country. 

31 And we said unto him, We are true men; we 
are no spies : 

32 We be twelve brethren, sons cf our father ; one 
is not, and the youngest is this day with our father 
in the land of Canaan. 

33 And the man, the lord of the country, said 
unto us, Hereby shall I know that ye are true men; 
]eave one of your brethren here with me, and take 
food for the famine of your households, and be 
gone : 

34 And bring your youngest brother unto me : 
then shall I know that ye are no spies, but that ye 
are true men : so will I deliver you your brother, 
and ye shall traffick in the land. 

35 And it came to pass as they emptied their 
sacks, that, behold, every man's bundle of money 
xvas in his sack: and when both they and their 
father saw the bundles of money, they were afraid. 

36 And Jacob their father said unto them, Me 
have ye bereaved of my children : Joseph is not, and 
Simeo'n is not, and ye will take Benjamin away: 
all these things are against me. 

37 And Reuben spake unto his father, saying, 
Slay my two sous, if I bring him not to thee : de- 
liver him into my hand, and I will bring him to 
thee again. 

38 And he said, My son shall not go down with 
you; for his brother is dead, and he is left alone: 
if mischief befall him by the way in which ye go, 
then shall ye bring down my gray hairs with sor- 
row to the grave. 



28 sack. And he said unto his brethren, My money 
is restored ; and, lo, it is even in my sack : and 
their heart failed them, and they turned trem- 
bling one to another, saying, What is this that 

29 God hath done unto us? And they came unto 
Jacob their father unto the land of Canaan, and 
told him all that had befallen them ; saying, 

30 The man, the lord of the land, spake roughly 
with us, and took us for spies of the country. 

31 And we said unto him, We are true men ; we 

32 are no spies : we be twelve brethren, sons of our 
father ; one is not, and the youngest is this day 

33 with our father in the land of Canaan. And the 
man, the lord of the land, said unto us, Hereby 
shall I know that ye are true men ; leave one of 
your brethren with me, and take corn for the 

3 i famine of your houses, and go your way : and 
bring your youngest brother unto me: then 
shall I know that ye are no spies, but that ye 
are true men : so will I deliver you your brother, 

35 and ye shall traffick in the land. And it came 
to pass as they emptied their sacks, that, behold, 
every man's bundle of money was in his sack : 
and when they and their father saw the bundles 

36 of money, they were afraid. And Jacob their 
father said unto them, Me have ye bereaved of 
my children : Joseph is not, and Simeon is not, 
and ye will take Benjaman away : all these 

37 things are against me. And Reuben spake unto 
his father, saying, Slay my two sons, if I bring 
him not to thee : deliver him into my hand, and 

38 I will bring him to thee again. And he said, 
My son shall not go down with you ; for his 
brother is dead, and he only is left: if mischief 
befall him by the way in the which ye go, then 
shall ye bring down my gray hairs with sorrow 
to the grave. 



CHAPTER XLIII. 



1 AND the famine was sore in the land. 

2 And it came to pass, when they had eaten up 
the corn which they had brought out of Egypt, 



1 AND the famine was sore in the land. And it 

2 came to pass, when they had eaten up the corn 
which they had brought out of Egypt, their 



the modern sense of the term, did not then 
exist. It was simply "a resting-place for the 
night, at which caravans were wont to rest, 
near to a well, to trees, and to pasture, where 
the tents were pitched and the cattle were 

tethered " (Josh. i : 8 ; Jer. 9:2). 

28. And their heart failed them ; lit., 

went out; " as it were, leapt into their mouths 
through sudden apprehension." They feared 
lest they should be charged with having stolen 
the money, and be treated as thieves. What 
had now befallen them, they attribute directly 
to the judgment of God . It might be inferred 
from ver. 28 taken in connection with ver. 35 
that only one of them opened his sack on the 
homeward journey, and the rest on reaching 
home. All appearance of discrepancy, how- 
ever, is removed, and the whole account har- 
monized by supposing that, according to 43 : 21, 
all of them open their sacks on the way. This 
is the explanation adopted, and justly, by 
Matthew Poole. He thus comments upon the 
words in ver. 27, "one of them opened his 
sack." " And after him the rest, by his ex- 



ample and information did so, as is affirmed in 
43 : 21, and not denied here." 

36. Me have ye bereaved of my chil- 
dren. The language of complaint; though 
some think it betrays a lurkiug suspicion that 
they had been accessory to Joseph's death, and 
that on this account he was unwilling to trust 
Benjamin in their hands. 

37. Slay my two sons, if I bring him 
not to thee. A rash speech, and naming a 
condition that he did not seriously expect his 
father to accept. It was a strong way of assur- 
ing his father that the greatest care would be 
taken of Benjamin. 

38. To the grave ; bl'Ktf , sheol. (see on 

37 : 35.) 



Chap. 43. The Second Visit of Jo- 
seph's Brethren to Egypt, Along with 
Benjamin. 

1. The famine was sore in the land. 
For a description of famine in Palestine, see 
Jer. 14 : 2-6 ; Lam. 4 : 4, 5. 

2. When they had eaten up the corn. 



230 



GENESIS 



[Ch. XLITI. 



their father said unto them, Go again, buy us a 
little food. 

3 And Judah spake unto him, saying, The man 
did solemnly protest unto us, saying, Ye shall not 
see my face, except your brother be with you. 

4 If thou wilt send our brother with us, we will 
go down and buy thee food : 

5 But if thou wilt not send him, we will not go 
down : for the man said unto us, Ye shall not see 
my face, except your brother be with you. 

6 And Israel said, Wherefore dealt ye so ill with 
me, os to tell the man whether ye had yet a 
brother? 

7 And they said, The man asked usstraitly of our 
state, and of our kindred, saying, Is your father yet 
alive ? have ye another brother ? and we told him ac- 
cording to the tenor of these words : Could we cer- 
tainly know that he would say, Bring your brother 
down ? 

8 And Judah said unto Israel his father, Send the 
lad with me, and we will arise and go ; that we 
may live, and not die, both we, and thou, and also 
our little ones. 

9 I will be surety for him ; of my hand shalt thou 
require him : If I bring him not unto thee, and set 
him before thee, then let me bear the blame for 
ever: 

10 For except we had lingered, surely now we 
had returned this second time. 

11 And their father Israel said unto them, If it 
must be so now, do this ; take of the best fruits in 
the land in your vessels, and carry down the man 
a present, a little balm, and a little honey, spices 
and myrrh, nuts and almonds : 

12 And take double money in your hand ; and 
the money that was brought again in the mouth of 
your sacks, carry it again in your hand ; peradven- 
ture it was an oversight. 

13 Take also your brother, and arise, go again 
unto the man : 

14 And God Almighty give you mercy before the 
man, that he may send away your other brother, 
and Benjamin. If I be bereaved of my children, I 
am bereaved. 



father said unto them, Go again, buy us a little 

3 food. And Judah spake unto him, saying, The 
man did solemnly protest unto us, saying, Ye 
shall not see my face, except your brother be 

4 with you. If thou wilt send our brother with us, 

5 we will go down and buy thee food : but if thou 
wilt not send him, we will not go down : for the 
man said unto us, Ye shall not see my face, ex- 

6 cept your brother be with you. And Israel said, 
Wherefore dealt ye so ill with me, as to tell the 

7 man whether ye had yet a brother? And they 
said, The man asked straitly concerning our- 
selves, and concerning our kindred, saying, Is 
your father j a .t alive ? have ye another brother ? 
and we told him according to the tenor of these 
words : could we in any wise know that he 

3 would say, Bring your brother down? And 
Judah said unto Israel his father, Send the lad 
with me, and we will arise and go ; that we may 
live, and not die, both we, and thou, and also 

9 our little ones. I will be surety for him ; of my 
hand shalt thou require him : if I bring bim not 
unto thee, and set him before thee, then let me 

10 bear the blame for ever : for except we had lin- 
gered, surely we had now returned a second 

11 time. And their father Israel said unto them, 
If it be so now, do this ; take of the choice fruits 
of the land in your vessels, and carry down the 
man a present, a little balm, and a little honey, 

12 spicery and myrrh, nuts, and almonds : and take 
double money in your hand ; and the money 
that was returned in the mouth of your sacks 
carry again in your hand ; peradventure it was 

13 an oversight : take also your brother, and arise, 

14 go again unto the man : and God Almighty 
give you mercy before the man, that he may 
release unto you your other brother and Ben- 
jamin. And if I be bereaved of my children, I 
am bereaved. 



How much corn they had brought from Egypt, 
and how long it had lasted, we are not informed. 
If each of the nine brothers had several asses — 
which is probable, enough would be brought to 
last several months. 

Their father said unto them, Go again. 
He had apparently forgotten the only condition 
on which, his sons could return to Egypt (see 

42 : 15). 

3. Judah spake unto him. Judah un- 
dertakes the task of persuading his father, since 
Eeuben's entreaty had been rejected ( 42:38 ), 
and Levi's treachery to the Shechemites (34 : 25, 
so) had made him unacceptable to his father. 

7. We told him according to the tenor 
of these words ; that is, they suited their 
answers honestly to his questions, which appear 
to have been very particular and exhaustive. 

8. Send the lad with me. The Hebrew 
word 1j.!4, naar, here rendered "lad," is ap- 
plied to persons of different ages — to Moses 
when a babe (Exod. 2:6); and to Joshua when 
he was forty (Exod. 33 : 11). Benjamin at this 
time must have been upward of twenty. 

9. I will be surety for him. Judah's 
words, which breathe a noble spirit— a spirit 



nobly exemplified in his subsequent pathetic 
pleading before Joseph (see 44 ■. 18-34), prevail 
with his father, and the latter consents to Ben- 
jamin's going. 

11. Take of the best fruits in the land 
(lit., of the song of the land; that is, of its 
choicest and most praised productions) in your 
vessels. The practice of conciliating kings 
and rulers by presents was common (comp. 32 : 13- 

20; 1 Kings 10 : 25 ; Matt. 2 : 11 ). The items of the 

present sent by Jacob are : balm or balsam, 
like that of Gilead; honey, probably here 
honey of grapes, made by boiling down new 
wine to a third or a half, and called by the 
Arabs dibs; spicery, probably the gum traga- 
canth ; myrrh, an odoriferous gum called lad- 
anum ; nuts, the pistachio nuts, having an oily 
kernel which is very palatable to Orientals ; 
and almonds, the fruit of the almond tree (see 

on 37 : 25). 

12. Take double money in your hand ; 

that is, the money they brought back, and 
enough more to buy the corn they needed. 

14. God Almighty give you mercy be- 
fore the man. God Almighty (El-Shaddai) 
was the covenant God of Abraham (n : 1) and 



Ch. XLIIL] 



GENESIS 



231 



15 And the men took that present, and they took 
double money in their hand, and Benjamin ; and 
rose up, and went down to Egypt, and stood before 
Joseph. 

16 And when Joseph saw Benjamin with them, 
he said to the ruler of his house, Bring these men 
home, and slay, and make ready ; for these men 
shall dine with me at noon. 

17 And the man did as Joseph bade ; and the 
man brought the men into Joseph's house. 

18 And the men were afraid, because they were 
brought into Joseph's house ; and they said, Be- 
cause of the money that was returned in our sacks 
at the first time are we brought in ; that he may 
seek occasion against us, and fall upon us, and take 
us for bondmen, and our asses. 

19 And they came near to the steward of Joseph's 
house, and they communed with him at the door 
of the house, 

20 And said, sir, we came indeed down at the 
first time to buy food : 

21 And it came to pass, when we came to the 
inn, that we opened our sacks, and, behold, every 
man's money was in the mouth of his sack, our 
money in full weight: and we have brought it 
again in our hand. 

22 And other money have we brought down in 
our hands to buy food': we cannot tell who put our 
money in our sacks. 

23 And he said, Peace be to you, fear not: your 
God, and the God. of your father, hath given you 
treasure in your sacks : I had your money. And he 
brought Simeon out unto them. 

24 And the man brought the men into Joseph's 
house, and gave them water, and they washed their 
feet ; and he gave their asses provender. 

25 And they made ready the present against 



15 And the men took that present, and they took 
double money in their hand, and Benjamin ; 
and rose up, and went down to Egypt, and stood 

16 before Joseph. And when Joseph saw Benjamin 
with them, he said to the steward of his house, 
Bring the men into the house, and slay, and 
make ready ; for the men shall dine with me at 

17 noon. And the man did as Joseph bade ; and 
the man brought the men into Joseph's house. 

18 And the men were afraid, because they were 
brought into Joseph's house ; and they said, 
Because of the money that was returned in our 
sacks at the first time are we brought in ; that he 
may seek occasion against us, and fall upon us, 

19 and take us for bondmen, and our asses. And 
they came near to the steward of Joseph's house, 
and they spake unto him at the door of the 

20 house, and said, Oh my lord, we came indeed 

21 down at the first time to buy food : and it came 
to pass, when we came to the lodging place, that 
we opened our sacks, and, behold, every man's 
money was in the mouth of his sack, our money 
in full weight : and we have brought it again in 

22 our hand. And other money have we brought 
down in our hand to buy food : we know not 

23 who put our money in our sacks. And he said, 
Peace be to you, fear not: your God, and the 
God of your father, hath given you treasure in 
your sacks : I had your money. And he brought 

24 Simeon out unto them. And the man brought 
the men into Joseph's house, and gave them 
water, and they washed their feet ; and he gave 

25 their asses provender. And they made ready 



of Jacob himself (35:ii). To him he would 
commit the guidance and protection of his 
children, and acquiesce in the divine will, what- 
ever it might be (2 Kings 7:4; Esther 4 : 16). 

16. Bring these men home (into the 
house) and slay and make ready. The 

sight of Benjamin convinces Joseph that his 
brethren at least have not been guilty of a 
double crime. The command to "slay (lit., 
slay a slaughter) and make ready," implies 
preparations for a grand entertainment (comp. 
31 : 51 ; Prov. 9:2). The heat of the climate made 
it necessary for the cook to take the joints di- 
rectly from the hands of the flesher, and Ori- 
ental taste preferred newly killed meat. The 
assertion of Bohlen that the narrator has here 
committed an inaccuracy in representing Jo- 
seph as having animal food prepared for him- 
self and his guests, is refuted by the testimony 
both of Herodotus (II., 37, 40) and Wilkinson. 
Says the latter: "Beef and goose constituted 
the principal part of the animal food through- 
out Egypt," and that according to the sculp- 
tures "a considerable quantity of meat was 
served up at those repasts to which strangers 
were invited" (Anc. Egyptians, Vol. II., pp. 
22, 23). 

18. The men were afraid. They con- 
strued the invitation to dine with Joseph as a 
design to ensnare and enslave them. Their 



fearful apprehensions, however, were the sug- 
gestion of a guilty conscience, which often 
" thinks each bush an officer." 
That he may seek occasion against 

us; lit., roll himself upon us; that is, "by 
violent oppression ; crushing us like a stone 
rolling down a precipice" (comp. job 30 -.u-, Ps. 

3T : 5 ; Prov. 16 : 3). 

19. They communed with (spake unto) 
him at the door of the house. Before 
venturing into the house they endeavor to ex- 
plain their behavior to the steward, and rectify 
any misapprehension which might exist in Jo- 
seph's mind. 

23. Peace be to you, fear not: your 
God, and the God of your father, hath 
given you treasure in your sacks. Joseph 
had probably instructed his steward to speak in 
this kindly and assuring way to his brethren, 
for he had now perceived that Benjamin was 
with them (ver. 16). 

I had your money. As if the steward 
should say : Whatever became of your money 
afterward, I received it, and you are credited 
with payment in full ; you need not therefore 
trouble yourselves on that score. Still, they do 
not enter the house till after Simeon is brought 
out to them ; his appearance has an assuring 
effect. 

24. They washed their feet, (see on is = 4.) 



232 



GENESIS 



[Ch. XLIV. 



Joseph came at noon : for they heard that they 
should eat bread there. 

26 And when Joseph came home, they brought 
him the present which was in their hand into the 
house, and bowed themselves to him to the earth. 

27 And he asked them of their welfare, and said, 
Is your father well, the old man of whom ye spake ? 
Is he yet alive ? 

28 And they answered, Thy servant our father is 
in good health, he is yet alive. And they bowed 
down their heads, and made obeisance. 

29 And he lifted up his eyes, and saw his brother 
Benjamin, his mother's son, and said, Is this your 
younger brother, of whom ye spake unto me? 
And he said, God be gracious unto thee, my son. 

30 And Joseph made haste ; for his bowels did 
yearn upon his brother: and he sought where to 
weep ; and he entered into his chamber, and wept 
there. 

31 And he washed his face, and went out, and re- 
frained himself, and said, Set on bread. 

32 And they set on for him by himself, and for 
them by themselves, and for the Egyptians, which 
did eat with him, by themselves : because the 
Egyptians might not eat bread with the Hebrews ; 
for that is an abomination unto the Egyptians. 

33 And they sat before him, the firstborn accord- 
ing to his birthright, and the youngest according 
to his youth : and the men marvelled at one 
another. 

34 And he took and sent messes unto them from 
before him : but Benjamin's mess was five times so 
much as any of theirs. And they drank, and were 
merry with him. 



the present against Joseph came at noon : for 
they heard that they should eat bread there. 

26 And when Joseph came home, they brought him 
the present which was in their hand into the 
house, and bowed down themselves to him to 

27 the earth. And he asked them of their welfare, 
and said, Is your father well, the old man of 

2S whom ye spake? Is he yet alive? And they 
said, Thy servant our father is well, he is yet 
alive. And they bowed the head, and made 

29 obeisance. And he lifted up his eyes, and saw 
Benjamin his brother, his mother's son, and 
said, Is this your youngest brother, of whom ye 
spake unto me? And he said, God be gracious 

30 unto thee, my son. And Joseph made haste ; for 
his bowels did yearn upon his brother : and he 
sought where to Aveep; and he entered into his 

31 chamber, and wept there. And he washed his 
face, and came out ; and he refrained himself, 

32 and said, Set on bread. And they set on for 
him by himself, and for them by themselves, 
and for the Egyptians, which did eat with him, 
by themselves : because the Egyptians might 
not eat bread with the Hebrews ;* for that is~an 

33 abomination unto the Egyptians. And they sat 
before him, the firstborn according to his birth- 
right, and the youngest according to his youth : 

34 and the men marvelled one with another. And 
he took and sent messes unto them from before 
him : but Benjamin's mess was five times fo 
much as any of theirs. And they drank, and 
were merry with him. 



CHAPTER XLIV. 



1 AND he commanded the steward of his house, 
saying, Fill the men's sacks with food, as much as 
they can carry, and put every man's money in his 
sack's mouth. 

2 And put my cup, the silver cup, in the sack's 
mouth of the youngest, and his corn money. And 
he did according to the word that Joseph had 
spoken. 

3 As soon as the morning was light, the men 
were sent away, they and their asses. 

4 And when they were gone out of the city, and 
not yet far off, Joseph said unto his steward, Up, 
follow after the men ; and when thou dost over- 
take them, say unto them, Wherefore have ye re- 
warded evil for good ? 



1 AND he commanded the steward of his house, 
saying, Fill the men's sacks with food, as much 
asthey can carry, and put every man's money 

2 in his "sack's mouth. And put my cup, the silver 
cup, in the sack's mouth of the youngest, and 
his corn money. And he did according to the 

3 word that Joseph had spoken. As soon as the 
morning was light, the men were sent away, 

4 they and their asses. And when they were gone 
out of the city, and were not yet far off, Joseph 
said unto his steward, Up, follow after the men ; 
and when thou dost overtake them, say unto 
them, Wherefore have ye rewarded evil for 



26. Bowed themselves to him to the 
earth. A second fulfilment of the dream of 

the Sheaves (37 : 7 ; comp. 18 : 2 ; 19 : 1). 

30. Joseph made haste — hastened out of 
the room, to give vent to his tears in a private 
place. He would not by his bursting emotion 
betray the secret which for the present he de- 
signs to keep. 

32. They set on for him by himself. 
The Egyptians kept all the castes separate' at 
meals : Joseph, as chief minister of State, or 
perhaps as belonging by marriage to the priestly 
caste, eats by himself, the members of his suite 
by themselves, and the Hebrews again by theru- 



33. They sat before him, the firstborn 
according to his birthright, etc. Their 
arrangement at the table according to the order 
of their birth was to them a surprising and 
mysterious circumstance. No wonder that they 



"marveled one with another." And their sur- 
prise must have increased when they saw that 
"Benjamin's mess was five times as great as 
any of theirs" (▼«. 34). 



Chap. 44. The Last Test. 

1-5. He commanded the steward of 
his house, etc. Joseph's design in having 
the cup put into Benjamin's sack was further 
to test his other brothers. Whether they would 
come to Benjamin's help when they supposed 
him in danger. Whether, therefore, they would 
show by their action toward the present favor- 
ite of their father that they were changed men 
from what they were when they sold him into 
slavery. The money may have been restored 
to all the others from consideration to his father, 
and also to shield Benjamin from suspicion on 
the part of his brothers, seeing that all had 
what did not belong to them, though innocent. 



Ch. XLIV.] 



GENESIS 



233 



5 Is not this it in which my lord drinketh, and 
whereby indeed he divineth? ye have done evil in 
so doing. 

6 And he overtook them, and he spake unto 
them these same words. 

7 And they said unto him, Wherefore saith my 
lord these words? God forbid that thy servants 
should do according to this thing : 

8 Behold, the money, which we found in our 
sacks' mouths, we brought again unto thee out of 
the land of Canaan : how then should we steal out 
of thy lord's house silver or gold ? 

9 With whomsoever of thy servants it be found, 
both let him die, and we also will be my lord's 
bondmen. 

10 And he said, Now also let it be according unto 
your words : he with whom it is found shall be my 
servant ; and ye shall be blameless. 

11 Then they speedily took down every man his 
sack to the ground, and opened every man his 
sack. 

12 And he searched, and began at the eldest, and 
left at the youngest: and the cup was found in 
Benjamin's sack. 

13 Then they rent their clothes, and laded every 
man his ass, and returned to the city. 

14 And Judah and his brethren came to Joseph's 
house ; for he was yet there : and they fell before 
him on the ground. 

15 And Joseph said unto them, What deed is this 
that ye have done ? wot ye not that such a man as 
I can certainly divine ? 

16 And Judah said, What shall we say unto my 
lord ? what shall we speak ? or how shall we clear 
ourselves ? God hath found out the iniquity of thy 
servants: behold, we are my lord's servants, both 
we, and fie also with whom the cup is found. 

17 And he said, God forbid that I should do so : 
but the man in whose hand the cup is found, he 
shall be my servant ; and as for you, get you up in 
peace unto your father. 

18 Then Judah came near unto him, and said, 



5 good ? Is not this it in which my lord drink- 
eth, and whereby he indeed divineth ? ye have 

6 done evil in so doing. And he overtook them, 

7 and he spake unto them these words. And 
they said unto him, Wherefore speaketh my 
lord such words as these? God forbid that thy 

8 servants should do such a thing. Behold, the 
money, which we found in our sacks' mouths, 
we brought again unto thee out of the land of 
Canaan : how then should we steal out of thy 

9 lord's house silver or gold ? With whomsoever 
of thy servants it be found, let him die, and we 

10 also will be my lord's bondmen. And he said, 
Now also let it be according unto your words : 
he with whom it is found shall be my bondman ; 

11 and ye shall be blameless. Then they hasted, 
and took down every man his sack to the ground, 

12 and opened every man his sack. And he 
searched, and began at the eldest, and left at 
the youngest : and the cup was found in Ben- 

13 jamin's sack. Then they reut their clothes, and 
laded every man his ass, and returned to the 

11 city. And Judah and his brethren came to 
Joseph's house ; and he was yet there : and they 

15 fell before him on the ground. And Joseph 
said unto them, What deed is this that ye have 
done? know ye not that such a man as I can 

16 indeed divine? And Judah said, What shall we 
say unto my lord ? what shall we speak? or how 
shall we clear ourselves ? God hath found out 
the iniquity of thy servants : behold, we are 
my lord's bondmen, both we, and he also in 

17 whose hand the cup is found. And he said, God 
forbid that I should do so: the man in whose 
hand the cup is found, he shall be my bond- 
man ; but as for you, get you up in peace unto 
your father. 

18 Then Judah came near unto him, and said, 



5. And whereby indeed he divineth? 

Divination by cups, for the purpose of learning 
the future, was one of the prevalent supersti- 
tions of ancient Egypt, and it is still practised 
in some Eastern countries (see Norden's Voyage 
oV Egypte et de Nubie, Vol. III., p. 98). It can 
scarcely be supposed that Joseph, a pious be- 
liever in the true God, actually practised divi- 
nation. But, as in using an interpreter and 
swearing by the life of Pharaoh, he conducted 
himself toward his brethren as an Egyptian, 
so in this. 

7. Wherefore saith my lord these 
words ? Words, that is, of such import, mean- 
ing the charge contained in them . 

9. With whomsoever of thy servants 
it he found, let him die, and we also 
will be my lord's bondmen. A rash 
proposition, but one which in their conscious 
innocence they felt justified in making. The 
man takes them at their word, with this modi- 
fication : "He with whom it is found shall be 
my bondman ; and ye (the rest) shall be blame- 
less." The search was begun, beginning with 
the eldest and finishing with the youngest ; and 
to their great anguish and alarm, "the cup was 
found in Benjamin's sack." What now shall 



they do ? Shall they use the freedom which is 
theirs and leave Benjamin to his fate ? Or shall 
they stand by him and involve themselves in 
the danger that appears to await him? They 
adopt the latter course, and thus prove their 
love and loyalty to Benjamin and their aged 
father. "Then they rent their clothes, and 
laded every man his ass, and returned to the 
city." 

16. God hath found out the iniquity of 
thy servants. Judah did not mean hereby 
to confess that they had stolen the cup, but that 
God in his righteous providence was punishing 
them for their sins, and that they meant to 
accept whatever he should lay upon them. 

17. The man in whose hand the cup is 
found, he shall be my servant. Joseph 
would not extend the punishment beyond the 
offense or the offender. He would permit them 
to return in peace to their father, but retain 
Benjamin. But this alternative they could not 
accept, for in all probability it would be the 
death of their father. They would not return to 
their father and leave Benjamin behind. 

18-34. Then Judah came near unto 
him, and said, etc. The speech of Judah on 
behalf of Benjamin deserves to be ranked among 



234 



GENESIS 



[Ch. XLIV. 



my lord, let thy servant, I pray thee, speak a word 
in my lord's ears, and let not thine anger burn 
against thy servant ; for thou art even as Pharaoh. 

19 My lord asked his servants, saying, Have ye a 
father, or a brother ? 

20 And we said unto my lord, We have a father, 
an old man, and a child of his old age, a little one ; 
and his brother is dead, and he alone is left of his 
mother, and his father loveth him. 

21 And thou saidst unto thy servants, Bring him 
down unto me, that I may set mine eyes upon him. 

22 And we said unto my lord, The lad cannot 
leave his father : for if he should leave his father, 
his father would die. 

23 And thou saidst unto thy servants, Except 
your youngest brother come down with you, ye 
shall see my face no more. 

24 And it came to pass when we came up unto 
thy servant my father, we told him the words of 
my lord. 

25 And our father said, Go again, and buy us a 
little food. 

26 And we said, We cannot go down: if our 
youngest brother be with us, then will we go down : 
for we may not see the man's face, except our 
youngest brother be with us. 

27 And thy servant my father said unto us, Ye 
know that my wife bare me two sons : 

28 And the one went out from me, and I said, 
Surely he is torn in pieces ; and I saw him not 
since : 

29 And if ye take this also from me, and mischief 
befall him, ye shall bring down my gray hairs with 
sorrow to the grave. 

30 Now therefore when I come to thy servant my 
father, and the lad be not with us ; seeing that his 
life is bound up in the lad's life ; 

31 It shall come to pass, when he seeth that the 
lad is not with us, that he will die : and thy serv- 
ants shall bring down the gray hairs of thy servant 
our father with sorrow to the grave. 

32 For thy servant became surety for the lad 
unto my father, saying, If I bring him not unto 
thee, then I shall bear the blame to my father for 
ever. 

33 Now therefore, I pray thee, let thy servant 
abide instead of the lad a bondman to my lord ; 
and let the lad go up with his brethren. 



Oh my lord, let thy servant, I pray thee, speak a 
word in my lord's ears, and let not thine anger 
burn against thy servant: for thou art even as 

19 Pharaoh. My lord asked his servants, saving, 

20 Have ye a father, or a brother? And we* said 
unto my lord, We have a father, an old man, 
and a child of his old age, a little one ; and his 
brother is dead, and he alone is left of his 

21 mother, and his father loveth him. And thou 
saidst unto thy servants, Bring him down unto 

22 me, that I may set mine eyes upon him. And 
we said unto my lord, The lad cannot leave his 
father: for if he should leave his father, his 

23 father would die. And thou saidst unto thy 
servants, Except your youngest brother come 
down with you, ye shall see my face no more. 

24 And it came to pass when we came up unto thy 
servant my father, we told him the words of 

25 my lord. And our father said, Go again, buy us 

26 a little food. And we said, We cannot go down : 
if our youngest brother be with us, then will we 
go down : for we may not see the man's face, 

27 except our youngest brother be with us. And 
thy servant my father said unto us, Ye know 

28 that my wife bare me two sons : and the one 
went out from me, and I said, Surely he is torn 

29 in pieces ; and I have not seen him since : and 
if ye take this one also from me, and mischief 
befall him, ye shall bring down my gray hairs 

30 with sorrow to the grave. Now therefore when 
I come to thy servant my father, and the lad be 
not with us ; seeing that his life is bound up in 

31 the lad's life ; it shall come to pass, when he 
seeth that the lad is not with us, that he will die : 
and thy servants shall bring down the gray hairs 
of thy* servant our father with sorrow to the 

32 grave. For thy servant became surety for the 
lad unto my father, saying, If I bring him not 
unto thee, then shall I bear the blame to my 

33 father for ever. Now therefore, let thy servant, 
I pray thee, abide instead of the lad a bondman 
to my lord ; and let the lad go up with his 



the most able and eloquent ever pronounced. 
Kalisch characterizes it as "one of the master- 
pieces of Hebrew composition " ; Lange, " one 
of the grandest and fairest to be found in the 
Old Testament"; Lawson, "a more moving 
oration than ever orator pronounced " ; Inglis, 
"one of the finest specimens of natural elo- 
quence in the world." "What would I not 
give," says Luther, "to be able to pray before 
the Lord as Judah here interceded for Ben- 
jamin, for it is a perfect model of prayer, nay, 
of the strong feeling which must underlie all 
prayer." In commenting on this passage, De- 
litzsch remarks: "Judah is the eloquent one 
among his brethren. His eloquence has carried 
the measure of Joseph's sale ; it had prevailed 
on Jacob to send Benjamin with them ; and here, 
finally, it makes Joseph unable to endure the 
restraint which he wished to put upon himself." 
18. Thou art even as Pharaoh. He 
hopes, therefore, to be indulged for presuming to 
address one of so exalted station, and able, like 
Pharaoh, either to pardon or condemn. 



20. We have a father, an old man, and 
a child of his old age, a little one, etc. 
This is substantially the account given by the 
brethren of themselves at the first (« : 13) ; 
" only Judah now with exquisite tact as well as 
resistless pathos dwells on the threefold circum- 
stance that the little one whose life was at stake 
was inexpressibly dear to his father for his dead 
brother's sake as well as for his departed 
mother's and his own." 

27. My wife. Jacob is here represented as 
referring to Rachel as though she were his only 
wife, so truly was she the wife of his affections, 
and so fondly did he cherish her memory. 

Bare me tWO SOnS. (See SO : 22-24 and 35 : 
16-18.) 

32. Thy servant became surety for the 
lad unto my father ; that is, for his safe 
return (see 43 : 9). 

33. Now therefore, let thy servant, I 
pray thee, abide instead of the lad a 
bondman to my lord. An exhibition of 
sublime heroism on the part of Judah. By this 



Ch. XLV.] 



GENESIS 



235 



34 For how shall I go up to my father, and the 
lad be not with me? lest peradventure I see the 
evil that shall come on my father. 



34 brethren. For how shall I go up to my father, 
and the lad he not with me ? lest I see the evil 
that shall come on my father. 



CHAPTER XLV. 



1 THEN Joseph could not refrain himself before 
all them that stood by him ; and he cried, Cause 
every man to go out from me. Aud there stood do 
man with him, while Joseph made himself known 
unto his brethren. 

2 And he wept aloud : and the Egyptians and 
the house of Pharaoh heard. 

3 And Joseph said unto his brethren, I am Jo- 
seph ; doth my father yet live ? And his brethren 
could not answer him ; for they were troubled at 
his presence. 

4 And Joseph said unto his brethren, Come near 
to me, I pray you. And they came near. And he 
said, I ain Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into 
Egvpt. 

5 Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with 
yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did 
send me before you to preserve life. 

6 For these two years hath the famine been in the 
land : and yet there are five years, in the which 
there shall neither be earing nor harvest. 

7 And God sent me before you to preserve you a 
posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a 
great deliverance. 

8 So now it ivas not you that sent me hither, but 
God : and he hath made me a father to Pharaoh, 
and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout 
all the land of Egypt. 

9 Haste ye, and go up to my father, and say unto 
him. Thus* saith thy son Joseph, God hath made 
me lord of all Egypt : come down unto me, tarry 
not : 

10 And thou shalt dwell in the land of Goshen, 
and thou shalt be near unto me, thou, and thy chil- 
dren, and thy children's children, and thy flocks, 
and thy herds, and all that thou hast: 

11 And there will I nourish thee ; for yet there 
are five years of famine ; lest thou, and thy house- 
hold, and all that thou hast, come to poverty- 



i 1 THEN Joseph could not refrain himself before 
them that stood by him ; and he cried, Cause 
every man to go out from me. And there stood 
no man with him, while Joseph made himself 

2 known unto his brethren. And he wept aloud : 
and the Egyptians heard, and the house of 

3 Pharaoh heard. And Joseph said unto his 
brethren, I am Joseph ; doth my father yet live ? 
And his brethren could not answer him ; for 

4 they were troubled at his presence. And Joseph 
said unto his brethren, Come near to me, I pray 
you. And they came near. And he said, I am 
Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt. 

5 And now be not grieved, nor angry with your- 
selves, that ye sold me hither : for God did send 

6 me before you to preserve life. For these two 
years hath the famine been in the land : and 
there are yet five years, in the which there shall 

7 be neither plowing nor harvest. And God sent 
me before you to preserve you a remnant in the 
earth, and to save you alive by a great deliver- 

8 ance. So now it was not you that sent me 
hither, but God : and he hath made me a father 
to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and ruler 

9 over all the land of Egypt. Haste ye, and go 
up to my father, and say unto him, Thus saith 
thy son Joseph, God hath made me lord of all 

10 Egypt : come down unto me, tarry not : and 
thou shalt dwell in the land of Goshen, and 
thou shalt be near unto me, thou, and thy chil- 
dren, and thy children's children, and thy flocks, 

11 and thy herds, and all that thou hast : and there 
will I nourish thee ; for there are yet five years 
of famine ; lest thou come to poverty, thou, and 



last self-sacrificing offer of Judah, the trial of 
the feelings of the ten brethren toward their 
father and toward Benjamin, which seems to 
have been the chief object of Joseph's demeanor 
toward them, was rendered complete. 



Chap. 45. 1-5. Joseph Makes Himself 
K^owx. In all his preceding conduct toward 
his brethren, which had the appearance of 
harshness, Joseph doubtless had acted by a 
divine guidance, not for the gratification of his 
own private feelings, but for the accomplish- 
ment of the divine purposes, which included the 
humiliation of his brethren, and the trial of 
their feelings toward their father and Benjamin. 
Now the way was fully prepared for making 
himself known to them. 

3. I am Joseph. The effect of this an- 
nouncement can be better imagined than de- 
scribed. Had he been actually dead, and risen 
again and appeared before them, they would 
hardly have been more astounded. Hitherto 
they had known him as Zaphnath-paaneah (a ■■ 

Doth my father yet live? How sweetly 



affectionate this allusion to his beloved and 
revered parent— "my father"! In his former 
inquiry it was ' ' the old man of whom ye 
spake." 

5. Be not grieved; indulge not in exces- 
sive anguish, nor sink into despair, 'for God 
is to be seen and acknowledged in all these 
things. 

8. Not you that sent me hither ; that is, 
not you merely or principally. You were in- 
struments in fulfilling the infinitely wise and 
gracious purpose of God. 

But God, lit., the God— "that great Per- 
sonal God, who had led and guarded Abraham, 
Isaac, and Jacob, and who still watched over 
the house of Israel." 

He hath made me a father to Pharaoh ; 
that is, his most trusted counselor and guide. 

10. Thou shalt dwell in the land of 
Goshen. Goshen was " a region on the east of 
the Pelusiac branch of the Nile, extending as far 
as the wilderness of Arabia, a land of pastures 
(« : 34) t exceedingly fertile (*t : e) , styled also the 
land of Rameses (h : n), and including the 
cities Pithom and Rameses fExod. l : n), and 



236 



GENESIS 



[Ch. XLV. 



12 And, behold, your eyes see, and the eyes of 
my brother Benjamin, that it is my mouth that 
speaketh unto you. 

13 And ye shall tell my father of all my glory in 
Egypt, and of all that ye have seen ; and ye shall 
haste and bring down my father hither. 

14 And he fell upon his brother Benjamin's neck, 
and wept ; and Benjamin wept upon his neck. 

15 Moreover he kissed all his brethren, and wept 
upon them: and after that his brethren talked 
with him. 

16 And the fame thereof was heard in Pharaoh's 
house, saying, Joseph's brethren are come : and it 
pleased Pharaoh well, and his servants. 

17 And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, Say unto thy 
brethren, This do ye ; lade your beasts, and go, get 
you unto the land of Canaan ; 

18 And take your father and your households, 
and come unto me : and I will give you the good 
of the land of Egypt, and ye shall eat the fat of 
the land. 

19 Now thou art commanded, this do ye; take 
you wagons out of the land of Egypt for your little 
ones, and for your wives, and bring your father, 
and come. 

20 Also regard not your stuff ; for the good of all 
the land of Egypt is yours. 

21 And the children of Israel did so : and Joseph 
gave them wagons, according to the commandment 
of Pharaoh, and gave them provision for the way. 

22 To all of them he gave each man changes of 
raiment ; but to Benjamin he gave three hundred 
pieces of silver, and five changes of raiment. 

23 And to his father he sent after this manner; 
ten asses laden with the good things of Egypt, and 
ten she asses laden with corn and bread and meat 
for his father by the way. 

24 So he sent his brethren away, and they de- 
parted : and he said unto them, See that ye fall not 
out by the way. 

25 And they went up out of Egypt, and came into 
the land of Canaan unto Jacob their father, 

26 And told him, saying, Joseph is yet alive, and 
he is governor over all the land of Egypt. And 
Jacob's heart fainted, for he believed them not. 

27 And they told him all the words of Joseph, 
which he had said unto them : and when he saw 
the wagons which Joseph had sent to carry him, 
the spirit of Jacob their father revived. 

28 And Israel said, It is enough ; Joseph my son 
is yet alive : I will go and see him before I die. 



12 thy household, and all that thou hast. And, be- 
hold, your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother 
Benjamin, that it is my mouth that speaketh 

13 unto you. And ye shall tell my father of all 
my glory in Egypt, and of all that ye have seen ; 
and ye shall haste and bring down my father 

14 hither. And he fell upon his brother Benjamin's 
neck, and wept ; and Benjamin wept upon his 

15 neck. And he kissed all his brethren, and wept 
upon them : and after that his brethren talked 
with him. 

16 And the fame thereof was heard in Pharaoh's 
house, saying, Joseph's brethren are come : and 

17 it pleased Pharaoh well, and his servants. And 
Pharaoh said unto Joseph, Say unto thy breth- 
ren, This do ye ; lade your beasts, and go, get 

IS you unto the land of Canaan ; and take your 
father and your households, and come unto me : 
and I will give you the good of the land of 

19 Egypt, and ye shall eat the fatof the land. Now 
thou art commanded, this do ye ; take you wag- 
ons out of the land of Egypt for your little 
ones, and for your wives, and bring your father, 

20 and come. Also regard not your stuff ; for the 

21 good of all the land of Egypt is yours. And the 
sons of Israel did so: and Joseph gave them 
wagons, according to the commandment of Pha- 

22 raoh, and gave them provision for the way. To 
all of them he gave each man changes of rai- 
ment ; but to Benjamin he gave three hundred 
pieces of silver, and five changes of raiment. 

23 And to his father he sent after this manner ; ten 
asses laden with the good things of Egypt, and 
ten she-asses laden with corn and bread and 

21 victual for his father by the way. So he sent 
his brethren away, and they departed : and he 
said unto them, See that ye fall not out by the 

25 way. And they went up out of Egypt, and came 
into the land of Canaan unto Jacob their father 

26 And they told him, saying, Joseph is yet alive, 
and he is ruler over all the land of Egypt. And 
his heart fainted, for he believed them not. 

27 And they told him all the words of Joseph, 
which he had said unto them : and when he 
saw the wagons which Joseph had sent to carry 

28 him, the spirit of Jacob their father revived: 
and Israel said, It is enough ; Joseph my son is 
yet alive : I will go and see him before J die. 



probably also On, or Heliopolis" (Pulpit Com- 
mentary). 

12. It is my mouth that speaketh unto 
you. By speaking to them now, not by an in- 
terpreter, but with his own lips and in their 
native tongue, he would remove from their 
minds every doubt as to his identity. 

13. Ye shall tell my father of all my 
glory in Egypt. Not that Joseph's exalta- 
tion had puffed him up ; but because of the un- 
speakable pleasure which he knew it would 
afford his father. 

18. Take your father and your house- 
holds. These words virtually repeat those of 
Joseph in ver. 10. By showing kindness to 
Joseph's family, Pharaoh would hereby express 
his deep sense of obligation to Joseph himself, 
Egypt's great public benefactor. The "house- 
holds " of Jacob and his sons would probably 
include hundreds of servants and dependents 
besides their own families. 



21. Joseph gave them wagons. Carts 
and wagons were early known in Egypt, which, 
on account of its general flatness, was well 
adapted to their use. As depicted on the 
monuments, the Egyptian carts used for carry- 
ing agricultural produce had two wheels only. 
When Jacob saw the wagons (ver. 27), which 
were probably unknown at this time in Pales- 
tine, he knew that they had come from Egypt, 
that his sons had been telling him the truth, 
and he was comforted. 

24. See that ye fall not out by the 
way. "Joseph is concerned lest on their 
homeward journey, discussions should arise re- 
specting the sale of him, with mutual re- 
proaches, and strife, and altercation, to which 
Reuben (« = 22) had already led the way" 
(Knobel, die Genesis erklart, p. 335). 

28. It is enough. Joseph was yet alive; 
to see him was all he wished for this side of the 
grave. 



Ch. XLVI.] 



GENESIS 



237 



CHAPTER XLVI. 



1 AND Israel took his journey with all that he 
had, and came to Beer-sheba, and offered sacrifices 
unto the God of his father Isaac. 

2 And God spake unto Israel in the visions of the 
night, and said, Jacob, Jacob. And he said, Here 
am I. 

3 And he said, I am God, the God of thy father: 
fear not to go down into Egypt ; for I will there 
make of thee a great nation. 

4 I will go down with thee into Egypt ; and I 
will also surely bring thee up again : and Joseph 
shall put his hand upon thine eyes. 

5 And Jacob rose up from Beer-sheba : and the 
sons of Israel carried Jacob their father, and their 
little ones, aud their wives, in the wagons which 
Pharaoh had sent to carry him. 

6 And they took their cattle, and their goods, 
which they had gotten in the land of Canaan, and 
came into Egypt, Jacob, and all his seed with him : 

7 His sons, and his sons' sons with him, his 
daughters, and his sons' daughters, and ail his 
seed brought he with him into Egypt. 

8 And these are the names of the children of 
Israel, which came into Egypt, Jacob and his sons : 
Reuben, Jacob's firstborn. 

9 And the sons of Reuben ; Hanoch, and Phallu, 
and Hezron, and Carmi 



1 AND Israel took his journey with all that he 
had, and came to Beer-sheba, and offered sacri- 

2 fices unto the God of his father Isaac. And God 
spake unto Israel in the visions of the night ; 
and said, Jacob, Jacob. And he said, Here am 

3 I. And he said, I am God, the God of thy father . 
fear not to go down into Egypt ; for I will there 

4 make of thee a great nation : I will go down 
with thee into Egypt ; and I will also surely 
bring thee up again : and Joseph shall put his 

5 hand upon thine eyes. And Jacob rose up from 
Beer-sheba : and the sons of Israel carried Jacob 
their father, and their little ones, and then- 
wives, in the wagons which Pharaoh had sent 

6 to carry him. And they took their cattle, and 
their goods, which they had gotten in the land 
of Canaan, and came into Egypt, Jacob, and all 

7 his seed with him : his sons, and his sons' sons 
with him, his daughters, and his sons' daugh- 
ters, and all his seed brought he with him into 
Egypt. 

8 And these are the names of the children of 
Israel, which came into Egypt, Jacob and his 

9 sons: Reuben, Jacob's firstborn. And the sons 
of Reuben ; Hanoch, and Pallu, and Hezron, and 



Chap. 46. Jacob's Immigration to 
Egypt. 1. Israel took his journey . . . 
and came to Beer-sheba. In going to 
Egypt from Hebron (37 : u), he would naturally 
pass through Beer-sheba, a place of most hal- 
lowed association (21 : 33 ; 26 : 24). Here he "of- 
fered sacrifices" to God, and sought no doubt 
his guidance and protection. From this time on 
no mention is made of a sacrifice till the Israel- 
ites left Egypt, four hundred and thirty years 
(or, as some think, two hundred and fifteen 
years) after (Exod. 12 : 3.6). 

3. I am God, the God of thy father ; 
lit., lam the El (the Mighty One), the Elohim 
of thy father — a reference again to the name El 
Shaddai, by which the Most High was pleased 
to designate himself on entering into covenant 

With the patriarchs (see 17 : 1 ; 85 : 11 ; 43 : u). 

Fear not to go down into Egypt. As 

Abraham had been in great peril in Egypt ; as 
Isaac had been forbidden to go thither (26 : 2) ; 
as it had been pretold to Abraham that his seed 
should be afflicted in a strange land (15 : 13) ; 
and as they would be in special danger of cor- 
ruption in Egypt, Jacob may have needed a 
special warrant from God before accepting 
Joseph's invitation, and leaving the land prom- 
ised to his descendants. 

4. Joseph shall put his hand upon 
thine eyes ; the last office of filial love. The 
ancients, Gentiles as well as Jews, would have 
it performed by the dearest relatives (see 
Homer, 77., XL, 453; Odys., XXIV., 294). 

7. His daughters, and his sons' daugh- 
ters. As Jacob had but one daughter, Dinah, 



the term "daughters" may include his daugh- 
ters-in-law, who are not otherwise mentioned in 
this enumeration. Or the plural may be used 
as the general term of classification both for 
sons and daughters, whether in their respective 
families there was one or more than one. Thus 
in ver. 15 it stands for one daughter, and in ver. 
23 for one son. 

8-27. This list of Jacob's descendants is 
given with the design principally of showing by 
the contrast between their present small number 
and their subsequent amazing increase, how 
signally was fulfilled Jehovah's prediction and 

promise tO Abraham (15 : 5 ; comp. Exod. 1 : 7). 

8. Which came into Egypt. This state- 
ment must be understood in the same manner 
as the similar statement in 35 : 26 (see note on 
that verse). The object of the writer is to give 
the family of Jacob as constituted on their set- 
tlement in Egypt. Hence the summary in ver. 
27 includes Joseph himself (ver. 19) ; and his 
sons Ephraim and Manasseh (ver. 20), who were 
already in Egypt. It also includes Hezron and 
Hamul, great-grandsons of Jacob (ver. 12), and 
the ten sons of Benjamin (ver. 21), the former of 
whom certainly, and the latter probably, were 
born there. The statement ot the sacred writer 
does not require us to suppose that the "little 
one" and "the lad that cannot leave his 
father" (43:8; 44:20,22) was a married man 
with ten children before going down to Egypt. 
"Virtually, indeed, all 'came into Egypt,' 
since all were of foreign parentage, and origi- 
nated in Canaan the birthplace of the family " 
(Conant). 



238 



GENESIS 



[Ch. XLVL 



10 And the sons of Simeon ; Jemuel, and Jamin, 
and Ohad, and Jachin, and Zohar, and Shaul the 
son of a Canaanitish woman. 

11 And the sons of Levi ; Gershon, Kohath, and 
Merari. 

12 And the sons of Judah ; Er, and Onan, and 
Shelah, and Pharez, and Zarah : but Er and Onan 
died in the land of Canaan. And the sons of 
Pharez were Hezrom and Hamul. 

13 And the sons of Issachar ; Tola, and Phuvah, 
and Job, and Shimron. 

14 And the sons of Zebulun; Sered, and Elon, 
and Jahleei. 

15 These be the sons of Leah, which she bare 
unto Jacob in Padan-aram, with his daughter 
Dinah : all the souls of his sons and his daughters 
were thirty and three. 

16 And the sons of Gad ; Ziphion, and Haggi, 
Shuni, and Ezbou, Eri, and Arodi, and Areli. 

17 And the sons of Asher; Jimnah, and Ishuah, 
and Isui, and Beriah, and Serah their sister : and 
the sons of Beriah ; Heber, and Malchiel. 

18 These are the sons of Zilpah, whom Laban 
gave to Leah his daughter; and these she bare 
unto Jacob, even sixteen souls. 

19 The sons of Rachel Jacob's wife ; Joseph, and 
Benjamin. 

20 And unto Joseph in the land of Egypt were 
born Manasseh and Ephraim, which Asenath the 
daughter of Poti-pherah priest of On bare unto 
him. 

21 And the sons of Benjamin were Belah, and 
Becher, and Ashbel, Gera, and Naaman, Ehi, and 
Rosh, Muppim, and Huppim, and Ard. 

22 These are the sons of Rachel, which were born 
to Jacob : all the souls were fourteen. 

23 And the sons of Dan ; Hushim. 

24 And the sons of Naphtali ; Jahzeel, and Guni, 
and Jezer, and Shillem. 

25 These are the sons of Bilhah, which Laban 
gave unto Rachel his daughter, and she bare these 
unto Jacob : all the souls were seven. 

26 All the souls that came with Jacob into Egypt, 
which came out of his loins, besides Jacob's sons' 
wives, all the souls were threescore and six ; 

27 And the sons of Joseph, which were borne 
him in Egypt, were two souls : all the souls of the 
house of Jacob, which came into Egypt, were three- 
score and ten. 

28 And he sent Judah before him unto Joseph, to 
direct his face unto Goshen • and they came into 
the land of Goshen. 



10 Carmi. And the sons of Simeon ; Jemuel, and 
Jamin, and Ohad, and Jachin, and Zohar, and 

11 Shaul the son of a Canaanitish woman. And 
the sons of Levi ; Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. 

12 And the sons of Judah; Er, and Onan, and 
Shelah, and Perez, and Zerah : but Er and Onan 
died in the land of Canaan. And the sons of 

13 Perez were Hezron and Hamul. And the sons 
of Issachar; Tola, and Puvah, and lob, and 

14 Shimron. And the sons of Zebulun ; Sered, 

15 and Elon, and Jahleei. These are the sons of 
Leah, which she bare unto Jacob in Paddan- 
aram, with his daughter Dinah : all the souls of 
his sons and his daughters were thirty and three. 

16 And the sons of Gad ; Ziphion, and Haggi, 
Shuni, and Ezbon, Eri, and Arodi, and Areli. 

17 And the sons of Asher; Imnah, and Ishvah, 
and Ishvi, and Beriah, and Serah their sister : 
and the sons of Beriah ; Heber, and Malchiel. 

18 These are the sons of Zilpah, which Laban gave 
to Leah his daughter, and these she bare unto 

19 Jacob, even sixteen souls. The sons of Rachel 

20 Jacob's wife; Joseph and Benjamin. And unto 
Joseph in the land of Egypt were born Manasseh 
and Ephraim, which Asenath the daughter of 

21 Poti-phera priest of On bare unto him. And the 
sons of Benjamin; Bela, and Becher. and Ash- 
bel, Gera, and Naaman, Ehi, and Rosh, Muppim, 

22 and Huppim, and Ard. These are the sons of 
Rachel, which were born to Jacob : all the souls 

23 were fourteen. And the sons of Dan; Hushim. 

24 And the sons of Naphtali; Jahzeel, and Guni. 

25 and Jezer, and Shillem. These are sons of Bil- 
hah, which Laban gave unto Rachel his daugh- 
ter, and these she bare unto Jacob : all the souls 

26 were seven. All the souls that came with Jacob 
into Egppt, which came out of his loins, besides 
Jacob's sons' wives, all the souls were threescore 

27 and six , and the sons of Joseph, which were 
born to him in Egypt, were two souls : all the 
souls of the house of Jacob, which came into 
Egypt, were threescore and ten. 

28 And he sent Judah before him unto Joseph, 
to shew the way before him unto .Goshen ; and 



15. These are the sons of Leah. The 

sons of Jacob are classified according to his 
wives, the list thus falling under four heads : 
Leah, Zilpah, Eachel, Bilhah. Under the first 
head, Leah, come Reuben, with four sons; 
Simeon, with six; Levi, with three; Judah, 
with three sons and two grandsons, five ; Issa- 
char, with four ; Zebulun, with three. These, 
together with Dinah, Leah's daughter, and 
Jacob himself, make thirty-three. 

18. These are the sons of Zilpah. Un- 
der the second head, Zilpah, come Gad, with 
seven sons ; Asher, with four sons, a daughter 
(Serah), and two grandsons, making in all six- 
teen. 

19. The sons of Rachel Jacob's wife. 
Under the third head, Rachel, come Joseph and 
Benjamin, whose sons, together with them- 
selves, make fourteen. 

25. These are the sons of Bilhah. 



Under the fourth head, Bilhah, come Dan, with 
one son ; and Naphtali, with four sons : in all 
seven. Thus, all the family of Jacob including 
himself, was seventy— the number given in ver. 
27, which includes Jacob himself, and Joseph 
and his two sons. Omitting these four, we have 
sixty-six, as in ver. 26. 

27. Threescore and ten. The Septuagint 
adds, from Num. 26 : 28-37 and 1 Chron. 7 : 
14-23, five grandsons of Joseph, making the 
number seventy-five ; which mode of compu- 
tation appears to have been followed by 
Stephen (Acts 7 : 14). The latter reckoning is 
a variation from the former, but does not con- 
tradict it- 

28. He sent Judah before him unto 
Joseph. To receive from him directions as to 
the place of settlement ; after which he returned 
to his father, and guided the immigrants into 
Goshen. 



Ch. XLVIL] 



GENESIS 



239 



29 And Joseph made ready his chariot, and went 
up to meet Israel his father, to Goshen, and pre- 
sented himself unto him ; and he fell on his neck, 
and wept on his neek a good while. 

30 And Israel said unto Joseph, Now let me die, 
since I have seen thy face, because thou art yet 
alive. 

31 And Joseph said unto his brethren, and unto 
his father's house, I will go up, and shew Pharaoh, 
and say unto him. My brethren, and my father's 
house, which were in the land of Canaan, are come 
unto me ; 

32 And the men are shepherds, for their trade 
hath been to feed cattle ; and they have brought 
their flocks, and their herds, and all that they 
have. , ™ 

33 And it shall come to pass, when Pharaoh 
shall call you, and shall say, What is your occu- 
pation? , , 

34 That ye shall say, Thy servants' trade hath 
been about cattle from our youth even until now, 
both we, and also our fathers : that ye may dwell 
in the land of Goshen ; for every shepherd is an 
abomination unto the Egyptians. 

CHAPTER 

1 THEN Joseph came and told Pharaoh, and 
said, My father and my brethren, and their flocks, 
and their herds, and all that they have, are come 
out of the land of Canaan ; and, behold, they are 
in the land of Goshen. 

2 And he took some of his brethren, even five 
men, and presented them unto Pharaoh. 

3 And Pharaoh said unto his brethren, What is 
your occupation? And they said unto Pharaoh, 
Thy servants are shepherds, both we, and also our 
fathers. 

4 They said moreover unto Pharaoh, For to so- 
journ in the land are we come ; for thy servants 
have no pasture for their flocks ; for the famine is 



29 they came into the land of Goshen. And Joseph 
made ready his chariot, and went up to meet 
Israel his father, to Goshen : and he presented 
himself unto him, and fell on his neck, and 

30 wept on his neck a good while. And Israel said 
unto Joseph, Now let me die, since I have seen 

31 thy face, that thou art yet alive. And Joseph 
said unto his brethren, and unto his father's 
house, I will go up, and tell Pharaoh, and will 
say unto him, My brethren, and my father's 
house, which were in the land of Canaan, are 

32 come unto me ; and the men are shepherds, for 
they have been keepers of cattle ; and they have 
brought their flocks, and their herds, and all 

33 that they have. And it shall come to pass, when 

34 Pharaoh shall call you, and shall say, What is 
your occupation ? that ye shall say, Thy servants 
have been keepers of cattle from our youth even 
until now, both we, and our fathers : that ye 
may dwell in the land of Goshen; for every 
shepherd is an abomination unto the Egyptians. 



XLVII. 

1 THEN Joseph went in and told Pharaoh, and 
said, My father and my brethren, and their 
flocks, and their herds, and all that they have, 
are come out of the land of Canaan ; and, be- 

2 hold, they are in the land of Goshen. And 
from among his brethren he took five men, and 

3 presented them unto Pharaoh. And Pharaoh 
said unto his brethren, What is your occupa- 
tion? And they said unto Pharaoh, Thy serv- 
ants are shepherds, both we, and our fathers. 

4 And they said unto Pharaoh, To sojourn in the 
land are we come ; for there is no pasture for 
thy servants' flocks; for the famine is sore in 



29. Joseph made ready his chariot. 

Not for ostentatious display, but only that he 
might appear in an equipage suitable to his 
dignity. His meeting with his father was most 
affecting. The joy, so tender and sweet, which 
he had experienced in falling on Benjamin's 
neck (« : u), was now exceeded when he fell 
on his father's neck, for it is here said that he 
" wept on his neck a good while." 

34. Every shepherd is an abomination 
unto the Egyptians. The monuments indi- 
cate the contempt of the Egyptians for shep- 
herds and goatherds by the mean appearance 
always given them. They looked upon all for- 
eigners as low-born ; and would naturally re- 
gard a nomadic people in close proximity to 
themselves, and with a much lower civilization 
than their own, as barbarous and despicable. 
This prejudice may have been deepened by the 
fact that shepherds were accustomed to kill 
animals regarded as sacred by the Egyptians 
(Kalisch). 

This prejudice seems, however, not to have 
been shared by the reigning family at this time, 
as Joseph would hardly so frankly have dis- 
closed their occupation, had it been offensive 
(see ver. 32 and 47 : 5, 6 ; also note on 12 : 15 
and 41 : 1). If, as some think, the shepherd 



dynasty began shortly before the arrival of the 
Israelites in Egypt, this would account for the 
friendly reception accorded to them by the then 
ruling Pharaoh : he would naturally be favor- 
able to those of the same stock with himself. 
This view accords with the remark in Exod. 1 : 
8, that " a new king arose, who did not regard 
Joseph." 

Chap. 47. The Settlement in Goshen. 
1. Joseph came {went in) and told Pha- 
raoh. Although Joseph had been invested by 
Pharaoh with complete control of the affairs of 
the country, yet he would not take it upon him- 
self to settle his family in Goshen without first 
obtaining the king's permission to do so (*6 : si). 

2. And he took some of his brethren? 
even five, or, better, from among his brethren 
he took five ; probably the five eldest, leaving 
the others to take care of their father, their little 
ones, and their substance. 

3. What is your occupation? This 
question corresponded precisely with what 
Joseph had anticipated, and they answered it 
according to his instructions (« : 33, 34). They 
informed Pharaoh, moreover, that they had not 
come to take up their permanent abode in 
Egypt, but only to " sojourn " there for a time, 



240 



GENESIS 



[Ch. XLVI1, 



sore in the land of Canaan : now therefore, we pray 
thee, let thy servants dwell in the land of Goshen. 

5 And Pharaoh spake unto Joseph, saying, Thy 
father and thy brethren are come unto thee : 

6 The land of Egypt is before thee ; in the best 
of the land make thy father and brethren to dwell ; 
in the land of Goshen let them dwell : and if thou 
knowest any men of activity among them then 
make them rulers over my cattle. 

7 And Joseph brought in Jacob his father, and 
set him before Pharaoh : and Jacob blessed Pha- 
raoh. 

8 And Pharaoh said unto Jacob, How old art 
thou ? 

9 And Jacob said unto Pharaoh. The days of the 
years of my pilgrimage are a hundred and thirty 
years : few and evil have the days of the years o*f 
my life been, and have not attained unto the days 
of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of 
their pilgrimage. 

10 And Jacob blessed Pharaoh, and went out 
from before Pharaoh. 

11 And Joseph blessed his father and his breth- 
ren, and gave them a possession in the land of 
Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of 
Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded. 

12 And Joseph nourished his father, and his 
brethren, and all his father's household, with 
bread, according to their families. 

13 And there was no bread in all the land ; for 
the famine was very sore, so that the land of 
Egypt and all the land of Canaan fainted by reason 
of the famine. 

14 And Joseph gathered up all the money that 
was found in the land of Egypt, and in the land of 



the land of Canaan : now therefore, we pray 
thee, let thy servants dwell in the land of 

5 Goshen. And Pharaoh spake unto Joseph, say- 
ing, Thy father and thy brethren are come unto 

6 thee : the land of Egypt is before thee ; in the 
best of the land make thy father and thy breth- 
ren to dwell ; in the land of Goshen let them 
dwell : and if thou knowest any able men 
among them, then make them rulers over my 

7 cattle. And Joseph brought in Jacob his father, 
and set him before Pharaoh : and Jacob blessed 

8 Pharaoh. And Pharaoh said unto Jacob, How- 
many are the days of the years of thy life? 

9 And Jacob said unto Pharaoh, The days of the 
years of my pilgrimage are an hundred and 
thirty years: few and evil have been the days 
of the years of my life, and they have not at- 
tained unto the days of the years of the life of 
my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage. 

10 And Jacob blessed Pharaoh, and went out from 

11 the presence of Pharaoh. And Joseph placed 
his father and his brethren, and gave them a 
possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of 
the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh 

12 had commanded. And Joseph nourished his 
father, and his brethren, and all his father's 
household with bread, according to their fam- 
ilies. 

13 And there was no bread in all the land ; for 
the famine was very sore, so that the land of 
Egypt and the land of Canaan fainted by reason 

14 of the famine. And Joseph gathered up all the 
money that was found in the land of Egypt, 



or while the famine lasted. Their hearts were 
yet in the land of promise. 

6. In the land of Goshen let them 
dwell. This was the favor they had asked 
(ver. 4). The term rnpD. miqeneh (cattle), here 
appears to be used in the comprehensive sense 
which includes the shepherds also, like "n#, 
'edher (flock), in 29 : 3. The office of controller 
of the shepherds and flocks of Eastern princes 
seems to have been of a high order, for in 1 
Chron. 27 : 25-31, it is enumerated among the 
chief public officials. 

7. And Jacob blessed Pharaoh. This 
was probably the customary salutation ac- 
corded to kings (see 2 Sam. 16 : 16 ; 1 Kings 1 : 25 ; Dan. 

2 = 4), which Jacob repeated when he "went 
out from the presence of Pharaoh" (ver, io), 
though some take the words to mean that Jacob 
implored the divine blessing on the royal head. 

(See note on 27 : 23.) 

8. How old art thou? or, How many are 
the days of the years of thy life ? This question 
was doubtless prompted by the impressive ap- 
pearance which the aged patriarch presented. 
At this time the age of man in the low-lying 
land of Egypt was probably much shorter than 
it had yet become in the pure, bracing climate 
and among the simple mountaineers of Canaan. 

9. The days of the years of my pil- 
grimage (lit., of my sojournings, wanderings 
from place to place, without any settled condi- 
tion) are a hundred and thirty years. 



The comparison of life to a pilgrimage was 
common among Eastern people. Thus the 
psalmist says : " For I am a stranger with thee, 
a sojourner, as all my fathers were" (ps. 39 : 12; 
comp. p s . 119 : 64 ; Heb. ii : is). In the retrospect, 
the days of the years of Jacob's sojournings 
seemed to him "few," and in comparison with 
those of his ancestors. He calls them also 
" evil." " His life had been a life of suffering ; 
in his banishment from his father and mother 
and his home, and in the anger of his brother 
Esau against him ; in his hard service in Padan- 
aram ; in the shame of Dinah ; in the cruelty 
of Simeon and Levi ; in the death of Eachel ; 
in the sin of Reuben ; in the loss of his beloved 
son Joseph by the envy of his brethren ; in the 
famine; in his anxiety concerning Benjamin 
and Simeon ; in the necessity of leaving Ca- 
naan, the land of promise, for Egypt." 

11-31. Joseph's Public Policy. 11. In 
the land of Rameses ; that is, in Goshen, 
or in a district of it. The city Rameses was 
built subsequently by the Hebrews (Exoa. 1 : n) } 
and was about three days' journey distant from 
the Red Sea (see on 45 : 10). 

12. According to their families; lit., 
according to the mouth of the little ones; that 
is, according to the number of children, of all 
ages, remaining in their homes. 

13-15. There was no bread in all the 
land. The people, after exhausting their sur- 
plus of food and their money, sell their cattle 



Ch. XLVII.] 



GENESIS 



241 



Canaan, for the corn which they bought : and 
Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh' s house. 

15 And when money failed in the land of Egypt, 
and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came 
unto Joseph, and said, Give us bread: for why 
should we die in thy presence? for the money 
faileth. 

16 And Joseph said, Give your cattle ; and I will 
give you for vour cattle, if money fail. 

17 And they brought their cattle unto Joseph : 
and Joseph gave them bread in exchange for horses, 
and for the flocks, and for the cattle of the herds, 
and for the asses ; and he fed them with bread for 
all their cattle for that year. 

18 When that year was ended, they came unto 
him the second year, and said unto him, We will 
not hide it from my lord, how that our money is 
spent ; my lord also hath our herds of cattle ; there 
is not aught left in the sight of my lord, but our 
bodies, and our lands : 

19 Wherefore shall we die before thine eyes, both 
we and our land ? buy us and our land for bread, 
and we and our land will be servants unto Pharaoh : 
and give us seed, that we may live, and not die, 
that the land be not desolate. 

20 And Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for 
Pharaoh; for the Egyptians sold every man his 
field, because the famine prevailed over them : so 
the land became Pharaoh's. 

21 And as for the people, he removed them to 
cities from one end of the borders of Egypt even to 
the other end thereof. 

22 Only the land of the priests bought he not ; 
for the priests had a portion assigned them of Pha- 
raoh, and did eat their portion which Pharaoh 
gave them : wherefore they sold not their lands. 

23 Then Joseph said unto the people, Behold, I 
have bought you this day and your land for Pha- 
raoh : lo, here is seed for you, and ye shall sow the 
land. 

24 And it shall come to pass in the increase, that I 
ye shall give the fifth part unto Pharaoh, and four I 



and in the land of Canaan, for the corn which 
they bought: and Joseph brought the money 

15 into Pharaoh's house. And when the money 
was all spent in the land of Egypt, and in the 
land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came unto 
Joseph, and said, Give us bread : for why should 
we die in thy presence? for our money faileth. 

16 And Joseph said, Give your cattle ; and I will 

17 give you for your cattle, if money fail. And 
they brought their cattle unto Joseph : and 
Joseph gave them bread in exchange for the 
horses, and for the flocks, and for the herds, 
and for the asses : and he fed them with bread 
in exchange for all their cattle for that year. 

18 And when that year was ended, they came unto 
him the second year, and said unto him, We will 
not hide from my lord, how that our money is 
all spent ; and the herds of cattle are my lord's ; 
there is nought left in the sight of my lord, but 

19 our bodies, and our lands : wherefore should we 
die before thine eyes, both we and our land ? 
buy us and our land for bread, and we and our 
land will be servants unto Pharaoh : and give 
us seed, that we may live, and not die, and that 

20 the land be not desolate. So Joseph bought all 
the land of Egypt for Pharaoh ; for the Egyp- 
tians sold every man his field, because the fam- 
ine was sore upon them : and the land became 

21 Pharaoh's. And as for the people, he removed 
them to the cities from one end of the border of 

22 Egypt even to the other end thereof. Only the 
land of the priests bought he not : for the priests 
had a portion from Pharaoh, and did eat their 
portion which Pharaoh gave them ; wherefore 

23 they sold not their land. Then Joseph said unto 
the people, Behold, I have bought you this day 
and your land for Pharaoh : lo, here is seed for 

24 you, and ye shall sow the land. And it shall 
come to pass at the ingatherings, that ye shall 



and then their land, and become virtually slaves 
themselves, all but the priests, in order that 
their lives might be preserved. 

16. And Joseph said, Give your cattle. 
With this proposition the people complied, and 
in exchange for their horses, their flocks of 
sheep, and herds of cattle and asses, he sup- 
plied them with bread that year. ' ' This was 
the wisest course that could be adopted for the 
preservation both of the people and the cattle, 
which, being bought by Joseph, were supported 
at the royal expense, and very likely returned 
to the people at the end of the famine, to enable 
them to resume their agricultural labors." 

18. They came unto him the second 
year ; that is, not the second of the seven years 
of famine, but the second year after the money 
was gone. 

19. Buy us and our land for bread. 
The people of their own accord offer their land 
and themselves for bread. At the request of 
the people, Joseph bought their land for Pha- 
raoh, so that it became his property (ver. 20). 
That Joseph's treatment of the people was not 
tyrannical and heartless, as certain opponents 
of Scripture have charged, is proved by the 
people's own words: "Thou hast saved our 



lives ; let us find grace in the sight of my lord, 
and we will be Pharaoh's servants" (ver. 25). 
[Even though Joseph's treatment of the famine- 
stricken nation might to us, in the light of later 
times, seem harsh and despotic, we must re- 
member the times in which he lived and not 
judge them by ours, nor him by one in similar 
circumstances in our days.] Joseph's removal 
of the people to the cities was evidently done 
in order to facilitate the distribution of the pro- 
visions among them by thus bringing them 
nearer to the storehouses f v er. 21). 

22. Only the land of the priests bought 
he not. These lands were inalienable, being 
endowments for the support of the priests and 
for the maintenance of the national religion 
(see Diod. Siculus, I., 73). Says Herodotus 
(II., 37): "They neither consume anything of 
their own, nor are they at any expense; but 
bread of the sacred grain is baked for them, 
and each has an abundant supply of the flesh 
of oxen and of geese every day." 

23. JLo, here is seed for you, and ye 
shall sow the land. The people had sold 
themselves and their lands to Pharaoh; but 
they were not treated as slaves. For the first 
crop after the famine, seed was distributed to 



242 



GENESIS 



[Ch. XLVIII. 



parts shall be your own, for seed of the Held, and 
for your food, and for them of your households, 
and for food for your little ones. 

25 And they said, Thou hast saved our lives : let 
us find grace in the sight of my lord, and we will 
he Pharaoh's servants. 

26 And Joseph made it a law over the land of 
Egypt unto this day, thai Pharaoh should have the 
fifth part; except the land of the priests only, 
which became not Pharaoh's. 

27 And Israel dwelt in the land of Egypt, in the 
country of Goshen ; and they had possessions 
therein, and grew, and multiplied exceedingly. 

28 And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seven- 
teen years : so the whole age of Jacob was a hun- 
dred forty and seven years. 

29 And the time drew nigh that Israel must die : 
and he called his son Joseph, and said unto him, 
If now I have found grace in thy sight, put, I pray 
thee, thy hand under my thigh, and deal kindly 
and truly with me ; bury me not, I pray thee, in 
Egypt : 

30 But I will lie with my fathers, and thou shalt 
carry me out of Egypt, and bury me in their bury- 
ingplace. And he said, I will do as thou hast said. 

31 And he said, Swear unto me. And he sware 
unto him. And Israel bowed himself upon the 
bed's head. 



give a fifth unto Pharaoh, and four parts shall 
be your own, for seed of the field, and for your 
food, and for them of your households, and for 

25 food for your little ones. And they said, Thou 
hast saved our lives : let us find grace in the 
sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh's 

26 servants. And Joseph made it a statute concern- 
ing the land of Egypt unto this day, that Pha- 
raoh should have the fifth ; only the land of the 

27 priests alone became not Pharaoh's. And Israel 
dwelt in the land of Egypt, in the land of Go- 
shen ; and they gat them possessions therein, 
and were fruitful, and multiplied exceedingly. 

28 And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seven- 
teen years : so the days of Jacob, the years of 
his life, were an hundred forty and seven years. 

29 And the time drew near that Israel must die : 
and he called his son Joseph, and said unto him, 
If now I have found grace in thy sight, put, I 
pray thee, thy hand under my thigh, and deal 
kindly and truly with me ; bury me not, I pray 

30 thee, in Egypt : but when I sleep with my fath- 
ers, thou shalt carry me out of Egypt, and bury 
me in their buryingplace. And he said, I will 

31 do as thou hast said. And he said, Swear unto 
me : and he sware unto him. And Israel bowed 
himself upon the bed's head. 



CHAPTER XLVIII. 



1 AND it came to pass after these things, that one 
told Joseph, Behold, thy father is sick: and he 
took with him his two sons, Manasseh and 
Ephraim. 

2 And one told Jacob, and said, Behold, thy son 
Joseph cometh unto thee : and Israel strengthened 
himself, and sat upon the bed. 

3 And Jacob said unto Joseph, God Almighty 
appeared unto me at Luz in the land of Canaan, 
and blessed me, 

4 And said unto me, Behold, I will make thee 
fruitful, and multiply thee, and I will make of thee 
a multitude of people ; and will give this land to 
thy seed after thee for an everlasting possession. 



1 AND it came to pass after these things, that 
one said to Joseph, Behold, thy father is sick : 
and he took with him his two sons, Manasseh 

2 and Ephraim. And one told Jacob, and said, 
Behold, thy son Joseph cometh unto thee : and 
Israel strengthened himself, and sat upon the 

3 bed. And Jacob said unto Joseph, God Almighty 
appeared unto me at Luz in the land of Canaan, 

4 and blessed me, and said unto me, Behold, I will 
make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, and I will 
make of thee a company of peoples; and will 
give this land to thy seed after thee for an ever- 



them, and they occupied the lands as tenants- 
at-will, on the payment of a produce rent of 
twenty per cent., which is almost the same rule 
as obtains in Egypt in the present day, where 
the increase is generally thirtyfold. 1 

29. Bury me not, I pray thee, in Egypt. 
Jacob desired to be buried in the burying-place 
of his fathers. He also firmly believed the 
promise that his descendants should inherit 
the land of Canaan, and he desired that his 
body might be carried and laid therein. 

31. And Israel bowed himself upon 
the bed's head. The Septuagint and Syriac 
versions, and the Epistle to the Hebrews (n : 21) 
read: "on the top of his staff." The Hebrew 
word without the vowel points, which do not 
exist in the more ancient manuscripts, means 
either "bed" or "staff." It is therefore im- 
possible to decide with certainty which was 
the original sense of the word. But most critics 



regard the present reading of the Hebrew text 
as the correct one (comp. 1 Kings 1 : 47). 



Chap. 48. Jacob's Adoption and Bless- 
ing of Joseph's Sons. 1. It came to pass 
after these things ; that is, after the events 
recorded in the preceding chapter, and espe- 
cially after the arrangements concerning Ja- 
cob's funeral. 

One told Joseph. The verb ID^l, way- 
yomer, is here used impersonally (comp. ver. 2), 
like on dit of the French, and man sagte of the 
Germans (see Ewaia, § 294b). 

He took with him his two sons, Ma- 
nasseh and Ephraim. Probably to receive 
Jacob's blessing, because Joseph thought his 
father was nearing his end. Ephraim and 
Manasseh were now eighteen or twenty years 
old. 

3. Luz ; that is, Bethel (see on 28 : 19). 



1 " The evidence of the monuments, though not very explicit, seems to show that this law was ever 
afterwards in force under the Pharaohs. The earliest records afford no information as to the tenure of 
land ; but about Joseph's time we find frequent mention of villages with their lands, the two being 
described under one designation, as held by the great officers of the crown, apparently by the royal gift " 
(R. S. Poole, in Smith's Bible Dictionary, Art. Egypt). 



Ch. XLVIIL] 



GENESIS 



248 



5 And now thy two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, 
which were born unto thee in the land of Egypt, 
before I came unto thee into Egypt, are mine ; as 
Reuben and Simeon, they shall be mine. 

6 And thy issue, which thou begettest after them, 
shall be thine, and shall be called after the name 
of their brethren in their inheritance. 

7 And as for me, when I came from Padan, 
Rachel died by me in the land of Canaan in the 
way, when yet there was but a little way to come 
unto Ephrath : and I buried her there in the way 
of Ephrath ; the same is Beth-lehem. 

8 And Israel beheld Joseph's sons, and said, Who 
are these ? 

9 And Joseph said unto his father, They are my 
sons, whom God hath given me in thisptoce. And 
he said, Bring them, I pray thee, unto me, and I 
will bless them. 

10 Now the eyes of Israel were dim for age, so 
that he could not see. And he brought them near 
unto him ; and he kissed them, and embraced them. 

11 And Israel said unto Joseph, I had not thought 
to see thy face : and, lo, God hath shewed me also 
thy seed. 

12 And Joseph brought them out from between 
his knees, and he bowed himself with his face to 
the earth. 

13 And Joseph took them both, Ephraim in his 
right hand toward Israel's left hand, and Manasseh 
in his left hand toward Israel's right hand, and 
brought them near unto him. 

14 And Israel stretched out his right hand, and 
laid it upon Ephraim's head, who was the younger, 
and his left hand upon Manasseh's head, guiding 
his'hands wittingly ; for Manasseh was the firstborn. 

15 And he blessed Joseph, and said, God, before 
whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, 
the God which fed me all my life long unto this day, 



5 lasting possession. And now thy two sons, 
which were born unto thee in the land of Egypt 
before I came unto thee into Egypt, are mine ; 
Ephraim and Manasseh, even as Reuben and 

6 Simeon, shall be mine. And thy issue, which 
thou begettest after them, shall be thine ; they 
shall be called after the name of their brethren 

7 in their inheritance. And as for me, when I 
came from Paddan, Rachel died by me in the 
land of Canaan in the way, when there was still 
some way to come unto Ephrath : and I buried 
her there in the way to Ephrath (the same is 

8 Beth-lehem). And Israel beheld Joseph's sons, 

9 and said, Who are these ? And Joseph said unto 
his father, They are my sons, whom God hath 
given me here. And he said, Bring them, I 

10 pray thee, unto me, and I will bless them. Now 
the eyes of Israel were dim for age, so that he 
could not see. And he brought them near unto 
him ; and he kissed them, and embraced them. 

11 And Israel said unto Joseph, I had not thought 
to see thy face : and, lo, God hath let me see thy 

12 seed also. And Joseph brought them out from 
between his knees ; and he bowed himself with 

13 his face to the earth. And Joseph took them 
both, Ephraim in his right hand toward Israel's 
left hand, and Manasseh in his left hand toward 
Israel's right hand, and brought them near unto 

14 him. And Israel stretched out his right hand, 
and laid it upon Ephraim's head, who was the 
younger, and his left hand upon Manasseh's 
head, guiding his hands wittingly ; for Manasseh 

15 was the firstborn. And he blessed Joseph, and 
said, The God before whom my fathers Abraham 
and Isaac did walk, the God which hath fed me 



5. Ephraim and Manasseh ... as 
Reuben and Simeon, they shall be mine. 

That is, Jacob adopts them and considers them 
as his own immediate offspring; he reckons 
them, not as grandsons, but as sons, each of 
them to constitute a distinct tribe, and rank as 
co-heirs with the rest of their brethren. The 
grounds of this proceeding are given in 1 Chron. 
5 : 1, 2. Thus the double portion which would 
have fallen to Eeuben, had he not forfeited his 
birthright, went to Joseph, who otherwise would 
have obtained but a single share of the inher- 
itance. Accordingly, in the subsequent history, 
Joseph is reckoned as two tribes instead of one 

(Josh. .14 : 4; Num. 1 : 32, 34; Rev. 7 : 6, 8). 

6. They shall be called after the name 
of their brethren in their inheritance. 

It does not appear that Joseph had any more 
sons, but Jacob takes the precaution to say, 
that should such be the case, they should not be 
heads of distinct tribes, but be reckoned as be- 
longing to the tribe of Ephraim or Manasseh 

(Num. 26 : 28-3T ; 1 Chron. 7 : 14-29), 

7. And as for me. In these words, which 
connect with the first clause of ver. 6 — "thy 
offspring"— Jacob says by implication that all 
hope of future progeny for him ceased with the 
untimely end of his beloved Eachel. 

8. Who are these? Jacob could perceive 
the forms of Joseph's sons, but his failing sight 



prevented him from distinguishing the features 
of their countenances (ver. 10). 

12. From between his knees ; that is, 
the knees of his father, who had drawn them into 
that position while in the act of blessing them. 

Bowed himself; in token of reverence for 
his father, from whom he was now to receive, 
in the person of his sons, the paternal blessing. 

14. Israel stretched out his right hand, 
and laid it upon Ephraim's head . . . and 
his left hand on Manasseh's head. This 
is the first instance of the imposition of hands 
mentioned in Scripture. In this case it marked 
out Joseph's sons as those whom Jacob would 
bless in the name of the Lord, and it is naturally 
suggestive of the transmission of spiritual bene- 
fit. It was employed in the Old Testament church 
in the dedication of priests (Num. 27 : is, 23 ; Deut. 
34 : 9) , in the New in the ordination of Christian 

Office-bearers (Acts 6:6; 8 : 17; 1 Tim. 4 : 14; 2 Tim. 

1 : 6), as well as by the Saviour and his apostles 
in the performance of many of their miracles 

(Matt. 19 : 13 ; Mark 8 : 23, 25 ; Acts 9 : 17 ; 19 : 6 ; 28 : 8). 

Guiding his hands wittingly; lit., he 

placed his hands prudently, that is, designedly, 
intentionally, so that his right hand would rest 
on Ephraim's head, and his left on Manasseh's. 
The Vulgate rendering of the words — comniU' 
tans manus, he crossed his hands, agrees with the 
connection, and has many learned supporters. 



244 



GENESIS 



[Ch. XLIX. 



16 The Angel which redeemed me from all evil, 
bless the lads ; and let my name be named on 
them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and 
Isaac ; and let them grow into a multitude in the 
midst of the earth. 

17 And when Joseph saw that his father laid his 
right hand upon the head of Ephraim, it displeased 
him : and he held up his father's hand, to remove 
it from Ephraim's head unto Manasseh's head. 

18 And Joseph said unto his father, Not so, my 
father : for this is the firstborn ; put thy right hand 
upon his head. 

19 And his father refused, and said, I know it, 
my son, I know it: he also shall become a people, 
and he also shall be great : but truly his younger 
brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall 
become a multitude of nations. 

20 And he blessed them that day, saying, In thee 
shall Israel bless, saying, God make thee as Ephra- 
im and as Manasseh : and he set Ephraim before 
Manasseh. 

21 And Israel said unto Joseph, Behold, I die ; 
but God shall be with you, and bring you again 
unto the land of your fathers. 

22 Moreover I have given to thee one portion 
above thy brethren, which I took out of the hand 
of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow. 



16 all my life long unto this day, the angel which 
hath redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads ; 
and let my name be named on them, and the 
name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac ; and let 
them grow into a multitude in the midst of the 

17 earth. And when Joseph saw that his father laid 
his right hand upon the head of Ephraim, it dis- 
pleased him : and he held up his father's hand, to 
remove it from Ephraim's head unto Manasseh's 

18 head. And Joseph said unto his father, Not so, 
my father: for this is the firstborn; put thy 

19 right hand upon his head. And his father re- 
fused, and said, I know it, my son, I know it : 
he also shall become a people, and he also 
shall be great: howbeit his younger brother 
shall be greater than he, and his seed shall be- 

20 come a multitude of nations. And he blessed 
them that day, saying, In thee shall Israel bless, 
saying, God make thee as Ephraim and as Ma- 
nasseh : and he set Ephraim before Manasseh. 

21 And Israel said unto Joseph, Behold, I die : but 
God shall be with you, and bring you again unto 

22 the land of your fathers. Moreover I have given 
to thee one portion above thy brethren, which I 
took out of the hand of the Amorite with my 
sword and with my bow. 



16. The Angel which redeemed me 
from all evil. The act ascribed to this angel 
shows clearly that he was not a created angel. 
He is clearly identified with the " God" who is 
mentioned in the preceding verse (see on 16 : »). 

18. Not so, my father, etc. The words 
of Jacob show that he was animated by the 
spirit of prophecy. The sacred history fur- 
nishes many instances in which the precedence 
accrued to the youngest instead of the eldest. 
Thus Abel was preferred to Cain, Shem before 
Japhetb, Abraham before Haran, Isaac before 
Ishmael, Jacob before Esau, Judah and Joseph 
before Keuben, Moses before Aaron, and David 
before his brethren. 

19. His seed shall become a multi- 
tude of nations. This prediction began to 
be verified in the time of Moses. At the first 
numbering of Israel in the wilderness the chil- 
dren of Ephraim exceeded those of Manasseh 
by upwards of eight thousand. At the second, 
this order was reversed ; but it was only for a 
time. After the conquest the ascendency of 
Ephraim was restored, so that he assumed the 
lead among the ten Northern tribes, and ac- 



quired a name and influence second only to 

those Of Judah (see Judg. 4:5; 5 : 14 ; 8 : 12). 

22. I have given to thee one portion 
above thy brethren (that is, above what thy 
brethren receive, each as a single tribe), which 
I took out of the hand of the Amorite 
with my sword and with my bow. 

[The view that these words refer to the pur- 
chase of the piece of ground at Shechem, or to 
the victory of Simeon and Levi over the 
Shechemites seems out of the question. Jacob 
would neither declare that what was gained by 
purchase was by warlike conquest, nor appro- 
priate as his own act the crime of his sons 
which he reprobated. It is easier to adopt the 
other view, held by many commentators, that 
Jacob, in prophetic vision, foresaw the con- 
quest of Canaan, and represents himself as 
doing what his descendants were to accomplish. 
The word DDK', shekhem, may have been de- 
signed to give a hint that Joseph's descendants 
should occupy the region around Shechem.] 



Chap. 49. Jacob's Blessing and Death. 1 
Of all the recorded words of Jacob, the most 



i The genuineness of Jacob's dying address to his sons is denied by the radical critics, who regard it 
as a vaticinium post eventum, and try to fix its age accordingly. Tuck refers it to the time of Samuel ; 
Ewald, to the time of Samson ; Knobel, to the reign of David ; Reuss, to the time of David and Solomon ; 
Wellhausen, to the period of the rival kingdoms of Judah and Israel ; Stade, to the time of Ahab ; while 
Dillmann seeks to make it square with the time of the judges. But the arguments adduced in support of 
these several views are of very little weight, and to the consistent believer in revelation, of none at all. 
The truth is, as Doctor Green observes: "The whole blessing of Jacob is only comprehensible as utter- 
ances of the dying patriarch, modified by personal reminiscences, by insight into the characters of his 
sons, and by their very names, with its ejaculation of pious faith, which looked forward to the fulfilment 
of the promises so long delayed (ver. 18) ; and as a forecasting of the future which met its accomplish- 
ment at separate epochs and in unexpected ways, and which, while clear and sharp in a few strongly 
drawn outlines, is vague in others, and has no such exactness in minute details as suggests actual 
historical experience." 



Ch. XLIX.] 



GENESIS 



245 



CHAPTER XLIX 



1 AND Jacob called unto his sons, and 3aid, 
Gather yourselves together, that I may telZ you 
that which shall befall you in the last days. 

2 Gather yourselves together, and hear, ye sons 
of Jacob ; and hearken unto Israel your father. 

3 Reuben, thou art my firstborn, my might, and 
the beginning of my strength, the excellency of 
dignity, and the excellency of power : 

4 Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel ; be- 
cause thou wentest up to thy father's bed ; then 
defiledst thou it : he went up to my couch. 

5 Simeon and Levi are brethren ; instruments of 
cruelty are in their habitations. 

6 O my soul, come not thou into their secret ; 
unto their assembly, mine honour, be not thou 
united : for in their anger they slew a man, and in 
their selfwill they digged down a wall. 

7 Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce ; and 



1 AND Jacob called unto his sons, and said : 
Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you 
that which shall befall you in the latter days. 

2 Assemble yourselves, and hear, ye sons of Jacob ; 
And hearken unto Israel your father. 

3 Reuben, thou art my firstborn, my might, and 

the beginning of my strength ; 
The excellency of dignity, and the excellency 
of power. 

4 Unstable as water, thou shalt not have the ex- 

cellency ; 
Because thou wentest up to thy father's bed : 
Then defiledst thou it : he went up to my couch. 

5 Simeon and Levi are brethren ; 
"Weapons of violence are their swords. 

6 O my soul, come not thou into their council ; 
Unto their assembly, my glory, be not thou 

united ; 
For in their anger they slew a man, 
And in their selfwill they houghed an ox. 

7 Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce ; 
And their wrath, for it was cruel : 



memorable are contained in this chapter. They 
are especially remarkable for their predictive 
element. In prophetic vision the patriarch 
sees unrolled before him pictures of the tribes 
of which his sons were to be the ancestors, and 
in grand outline he sketches their future char- 
acter and destiny. The language possesses all 
the characteristics of Hebrew poetry. 

1. In the last (latter) days; lit., in the 
end of the days. This expression, while some- 
times bearing the general sense of futurity (Num. 

24 : 14; Deut. 4 : 30 ; Dan. 2 : 28), often points distinc- 
tively to the time of the Messiah and the dis- 
pensation of the gospel (Isa. 2:2; Micah 4:1; 
Hosea 3:5; comp. Acts 2 : 17 ; 2 Tim. 3 : 1 ; 1 
Peter 1 : 20 , 2 Peter 3 : 3— in which virtually 
the same words occur). "The prophecy of 
Jacob does not refer exclusively to the days of 
Messiah, but rather sketches generally the for- 
tunes of his family; but all is leading up to 
that which was to be the great consummation, 
when the promised seed should come and 
extend the blessings of the spiritual Israel 
throughout all the world." 

3. The beginning of my strength. This 
expression has been supposed to convey the 
idea of vigor, beyond what might be thought 
to belong to children born in a more advanced 
age of the parent (com P . p s . 78 : si ; 105 : 36). 

The excellency of dignity, and the 
excellency of power. The first of these 
expressions has reference probably to the honor 
of the priesthood, and the second to the right of 
dominion, both of which were involved in the 
birthright, and both which Reuben forfeited by 
his crime. The Jerusalem Targum paraphrases : 
"As for the sin of my son Reuben, the birth- 
right is given to Joseph, the kingdom to Judah, 



and the priesthood to the tribe of Levi," an inter- 
pretation fully confirmed by 1 Chron. 5 : 1, 2. 

4. Unstable as water ; or, boiling over 
like water ; that is, in the heat and violence of 
unrestrained passion. 

Thou shalt not excel, have the excellency ; 
shalt not have the preeminence which belongs 
to thy birth. By the withdrawal from Reuben 
of the rank belonging to the firstborn, he lost 
the leadership in Israel, and his tribe attained 
to no position of influence in the nation (comp. 
Deut. 33 : 6). No judge, prophet, or ruler sprang 
from this tribe. 

5. Simeon and Levi are brethren; not 
only as having the same parents, but also in 
their deeds. They were associated in their 
treacherous murder of the Shechemites (34 : 
23-29) ; and the uniform Jewish tradition is that 
they were the chief instigators of the con- 
spiracy against Joseph. 

Instruments of cruelty are in their 
habitations, or, weapons of violence are their 
sioords. As the Hebrew word here rendered 
" swords," occurs only in this place, the passage 
has been variously translated. The Vulgate, 
several rabbins, and most modern scholars 
favor the rendering given above. It is related 
of Simeon and Levi that they "took each man 
his stvord" (34 : 25). 

6. In their selfwill they houghed an ox. 
This rendering is preferable to they digged 
down a wall. The only difference in the 
original for " wall " and " ox " is in the vowel 
point, so that in the unpointed Hebrew one 
might be easily taken for the other ; but the 
verb rendered "digged down" is used in the 
Piel conjugation only in the sense to hough, 
that is, to cut the sinews of the hind legs of 



246 



GENESIS 



[Ch. XLIX. 



their wrath, for it was cruel : I will divide them in 
Jacob, and scatter them in Israel. 

8 Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall 
praise : thy hand shall be in the neck of thine 
enemies ; thy father's children shall bow down 
before thee. 

9 Judah is a, lion's whelp : from the prey, my son, 
thou art gone up : he stooped down, he couched as 
a lion, and as an old lion ; who shall rouse him up? 



I will divide them in Jacob, 
And scatter them in Israel. 

8 Judah, thee shall thy brethren praise : 

Thy hand shall be on the neck of thine enemies : 
Thy father's sons shall bow down before thee. 

9 Judah is a lion's whelp ; 

From the prey, my son, thou art gone up : 
He stooped down, he couched as a lion, 
And as a lioness ; who shall rouse him up? 



horses, by which they are rendered useless (see 

Josh. 11 : 6, 9 ; 2 Sam. 8 : 4 ; 2 Chron. 18 : 4), 

7. I will divide them in Jacob, and 
scatter them in Israeh This prophecy 
concerning Simeon and Levi was literally ful- 
filled. Simeon is not mentioned at all by Moses 
in his blessing of the twelve tribes (Deut. S3). 
His was the weakest of all the tribes, having 
at the second census only twenty-two thou- 
sand two hundred against seventy-six thou- 
sand five hundred of Judah (see Num. 26 : u, 22). 
The portion of territory assigned to this tribe 
consisted of what had been a part of Judah's 
josh. 19 : 9), and they seem to have been gradually 
absorbed and lost in that powerful tribe. ' ' It 
is a Jewish tradition mentioned in the Jeru- 
salem Targum, that they were distributed among 
other tribes in the capacity of teachers ; so that 
the Hebrews were accustomed to say that every 
poor scribe and schoolmaster was a Simeonite." 

The descendants of Levi were also scattered 
throughout the land, and received no separate 
inheritance among the other tribes. On ac- 
count of their zeal against idolatry (Exoa. 32 : 
26-29), they were subsequently appointed to a 
high and honorable office in the service of the 
sanctuary. The silence of Jacob regarding such 
office indicates that this prophetic blessing was 
spoken before the days of Moses, for no writer 
after his day would have failed to notice this 
peculiar distinction of the tribe. 

8. Judah, thou art he whom {thee shall) 
thy brethren shaSl praise. In the original 
the last of these words is a play upon the first — 
as though it were : " Praise, thy brethren shall 
praise thee." As an individual, Judah had al- 
ready distinguished himself among his brethren. 
He had prevented the intended murder of Joseph 
(37 : 26) ; had guaranteed the safety of Benjamin 
(« : 9), and made a noble plea in order to 
redeem his pledge (** : is seq.) ; and had acted 
the part of a herald to Joseph to announce the 
arrival of his father (46 : 28). And correspond- 
ing to this distinction was the preeminence that 
awaited him as a tribe. At both the number- 
ings (Num. 1 : 27 ; 26 : 22) his tribe was found to be 
the most numerous ; it occupied a van position 
in the marches through the wilderness (Num. 10 : 
i*) ; it took the initiative in the war against the 



Canaanites after the death of Joshua (Judg. 1 : 1, 
2) ; by the election of David as king, it was 
raised to the rank of ruling tribe (i Chron. 28 : 4); 
it returned from the captivity with its integrity 
unbroken, and gave its name both to the land 
and to the nation ; and from it sprang both 
David and his greater son — the Messiah. 

Thy hand shall be in {on) the neck 
of thine enemies; that is, to capture and 
overcome them. The idea is that of a person 
fleeing, and his pursuer putting his hand upon 
the back of his neck to arrest his flight and 
secure him. So Judah would put his enemies 
to flight and subdue them — a prediction signally 
fulfilled in the victories of David and the kings 

Of Judah (comp. Job 16 : 12 ; 2 Sam. 22 : 41 ; Ps. 18 : 40). 

9. Judah is a lion's whelp. It will be 
observed that there is a gradation in the use of 
the metaphor here employed, in which are char- 
acterized in the most remarkable manner, the 
infancy, youth, and maturity of the tribe of 
Judah. He is first compared to the "1U, gur, 
the young lion giving promise of future vigor ; 
then to the TT'IX, 'areyeh, the full-grown lion of 
strength and majesty ; then to the X , 3?, labi', 
the lioness, whose fierceness, especially when 
defending her young, is terrible. To carry 
out the figure, it might be said that Judah 
was the young lion, when, after the death of 
Joshua, petty rulers like Othniel and Ibzan 
judged Israel ; he was the full-grown lion when 
David, grasping the sword, subdued the enemies 
of Israel and established his rule over all the 
tribes ; and he was the lioness, couchant in her 
lair, enjoying a majestic repose which none 
might disturb without awakening a tremendous 
rage, when Solomon, reigning peacefully over 
his widely extended kingdom, represented a 
power that was respected and dreaded by all 
the surrounding nations. 

From the prey, my son, thou art gone 
up ; the allusion being probably to lions which, 
having secured their prey in the plains, return 
satiated to their dens in the mountains (comp. 
Num. 33 : 24). Jerusalem probably received the 
appellation "Ariel," that is, the lion of God, 
from its having been the dwelling-place of 
David (isa. 29:1). In Rev. 5 : 5 the epithet, 
"the Lion of the tribe of Judah," is given to 



Ch. XLIX.] 



GENESIS 



247 



10 The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor 
a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh 



10 The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, 
Nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, 
Until Shiloh come ; 



our Lord, with an apparent reference to this 



10. The sceptre (lit., a sceptre) shall not 
depart from Judah. The word ID2W, she- 
bhet, is variously rendered in Scripture. Pri- 
marily denoting a rod or staff, it is used (1) for 
the shepherd's rod (Lev. 28 : 32) ; (2) for the rod 

Of Correction ( 2 Sam. 7 : H ; Job 9 : 34 ; Ps. 89 : 32 ; Prov. 
10 : 13) ; (3) for a tribe (ver. 16 ; 2 Kings 17 : 18) ; (4) 

for the scepter of royalty (Pa. 45 : 6; zech. 10 : n) 
In this passage it bears possibly the third, but 
more probably the fourth of these meanings. 
The scepter is the symbol of regal authority ; 
only the authority exercised by Judah cannot 
be said to have been strictly regal down to the 
time of the Saviour's birth, for the kingdom in 
the line of his tribe came to an end nearly six 
hundred years before that date. The import 
of the words is fully satisfied by understanding 
them to mean that authority, government, chief- 
tainship should belong to Judah till the coining 
of the Messiah. "Nahshon the son of Am- 
minadab, the prince of his tribe, was the an- 
cestor of David, who was anointed as the right- 
ful sovereign of all Israel, and in whom the 
throne became hereditary. The revolt of the 
ten tribes curtailed, but did not abolish the 
actual sovereignty of Rehoboam and his suc- 
cessors, who continued the acknowledged sov- 
ereigns till some time after the return from the 
captivity. From that date the whole nation 
was virtually absorbed in Judah, and whatever 
trace of self-government remained belonged to 
him until the birth of Jesus, who was the lineal 
descendant of the royal line of David and of 
Judah, and w T as the Messiah, the anointed of 
heaven to be king of Zion and of Israel in a far 
higher sense than before." 

Nor a lawgiver (the ruler's staff) from 
between his feet. The word ppTID, tnecho- 
qeq, rendered lawgiver in Deut. 33 : 21 and Isa. 
33 : 22 in the Authorized version, is translated 
"sceptre" in Num. 21 : 18 and Ps. 60 : 7 in the 
Revised version. In favor of the latter render- 
ing it is justly claimed that it best corresponds 
with the phrase "between his feet," and with 
the parallel clause which precedes. The words 
"from between his feet" are supposed to point 
to the Oriental custom, as depicted on the monu- 
ments, of monarchs, when sitting upon their 
thrones, resting their staves between their feet 
(comp. Agamemnon, Iliad, II., 46, 101) ; though 
they may mean "from among his descendants." 



Until Shiloh come. Of the various opin- 
ions held respecting the origin and import of 
this word, that rests on the best authority which 
derives it from rpEf, shalah, to rest, to be at 
peace, and in the Hiphil, to make quiet, to 
pacify; from which derivation "Shiloh" must 
be taken to signify the Tranquilizer, the Pacifi- 
cator, the Giver of peace — a title preeminently 
applicable to the Messiah. The great majority 
of interpreters, ancient and modern, Jewish and 
Christian, concur in this understanding of the 
term. The Targum of Onkelos, the earliest of 
the Chaldee versions, renders the passage as 
follows: "One having dominion shall not de- 
part from Judah, nor a scribe from his chil- 
dren's children forever, until the Messiah comes, 
whose is the kingdom." Says Edersheim : " It 
is our deliberate conviction that the term Shiloh 
can only refer to a personal designation of the 
Messiah, whatever the derivative meaning of 
word may be." 

Still, a number of eminent scholars, including 
Delitzsch and Dillmaun, take Shiloh to be the 
name not of a person, but of a place in Ephraim 

(Josh. 18 : 1, 8, 9, 10 ; 19 : 51 ; Judg. 18 : 31 ; 21 : 12 ; 1 

Sam. i : 3, 9, 24 ; 2 : u ; 4:4), an d, making it the ob- 
jective case after the verb instead of the sub- 
ject or nominative before it, render: "until he 
come to Shiloh." They suppose the prediction 
was fulfilled when "the whole assembly of the 
children of Israel assembled themselves together 
at Shiloh, and set up the tent of meeting there " 
(Josh, is : i). This, they affirm, was the turning- 
point in the history of the Israelites— the period 
of wandering was ended, the period of rest 
began. But, as setting aside this interpreta- 
tion, it may be urged : (1) It is doubtful if the 
town of Shiloh existed in Jacob's time ; and if 
it did, its mention by him would be, under the 
circumstances, a very improbable thing. (2) 
Shiloh, being an Ephraimitic town, did not be- 
long to the tribe of Judah, and it could be con- 
nected at best only remotely and incidentally 
with the authority of that tribe, and not at all 
with the obedience of the nations which is im- 
mediately afterward predicted. (3) The meeting 
of the whole congregation at Shiloh was of 
equal importance to all the tribes, and not to 
Judah alone. (4) Up to the time of the arrival 
of the congregation at Shiloh, Judah did not 
possess the promised rule over the tribes; he 
took the first place in the camp and on the 
march (Num. 10 : u) t but did not rule; the chief 



248 



GENESIS 



[Ch. XLIX. 



come; and unto him shall the gathering of the 
people be. 

11 Binding his foal unto the vine, and his ass's 
colt unto the choice vine ; he washed his garments 
in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes : 

12 His eyes shall be red with wine, and his teeth 
white with milk. ' 

13 Zebulun shall dwell at the haven of the sea ; 
and he shall be for a haven of ships ; and his border 
shall be unto Zidon. 

14 Issachar is a strong ass couching down between 
two burdens : 



command was held by the Levite Moses during 
tho wilderness journey, and by the Ephraimite 
Joshua at the conquest and division of Canaan. 
(5) It cannot be said that the scepter departed 
from Judah when he came to Shiloh : his pre- 
eminence and authority were greater after that 
event than before it. (6) Shiloh as the place of 
rest of the tabernacle, probably got its name 
(rest) from this circumstance; but it was no 
turning-point in the history of Israel. For 
these reasons, the rendering " until he come to 
Shiloh" must be rejected, and that adopted 
which refers the term to the Messiah and makes 
the passage predictive of his coming. The latter 
is the only interpretation that is consistent 
throughout, and fulfils the historical conditions. 
The proposal of Kalisch to render the particles 
"•S lp_, 'adh bi, by " even if," or " even when," 
instead of " until," is grammatically untenable 

(see Ges. § 155, 2 e. ; comp. 26 : 13 ; 41 : 49 ; 2 Sam. 23 : 10) ( 

and lacks the support of the very passages 
quoted by him (28 : 15; no : i ; 112 : 8) ? in every 
one of which the received rendering "until" 
must not be taken as meaning " only until," or 
" not afterwards." The context in every case 
must determine whether it is inclusive or ex- 
clusive of a time subsequent to the limit men- 
tioned. In 28 : 15 ; Deut. 7 : 24 ; Ps. 112 : 8 it is 
manifestly employed in the former sense. So 
also in our passage. The supremacy of Judah 
did not cease at the coming of " Shiloh," but 
took a grander form ; it then " arose from its 
temporary overthrow to a new and imperishable 
glory in Jesus Christ (Heb. 7 : i4) ( who conquers 
all foes as the Lion of the tribe of Judah (Rev. 5 : 
5), and reigns as the true Prince of Peace, as 
' our peace ' (Eph. 2 : 14) t for ever and ever." 

Unto him (that is, unto Shiloh) shall the 
gathering of the people be, or, obedience 
of the peoples be. The latter translation is 
preferable to that of the Authorized version. 
The meaning " obedience " agrees with Prov. 
30 : 17, the only other passage in which the 
word occurs, and is supported by the Arabic 
wakita, to obey, from which it is probably de- 
rived. The Targum of Onkelos renders : ' ' And 



And unto him shall the obedience of the peoples 
be. 

11 Binding his foal unto the vine, 

And his ass's colt unto the choice vine ; 
He hath washed his garments in wine, 
And his vesture in the blood of grapes : 

12 His eyes shall be red with wine, 
And his teeth white with milk. 

13 Zebulun shall dwell at the haven of the sea : 
And he shall be for an haven of ships ; 

And his border shall be upon Zidon. 

14 Issachar is a strong ass, 

Couching down between the sheepfolds : 



him shall the nations obey." The prediction is 
closely related to the great Abrahamic promise 
going before (12 : 3), and is further unfolded in 
the Messianic prophecies which follow (isa. 2:2; 

11 : 10; 55: 4; 60 : 3 ; Hag. 2:1). 

11, 12. The image in these verses is that of 
Judah (not Shiloh) enjoying in peaceful repose 
the abundance of his fruitful inheritance. Hy- 
perbolically speaking, he shall have such a 
superabundance of wine and milk, the two most 
valuable productions of the land, that he may 
wash his garments in the blood of the grape, 
and enjoy them so bountifully that his eyes 
shall be inflamed with wine, and his teeth 
become white with milk. The best wine in 
Palestine was from near Hebron and Engedi 

(Num. 13 : 23, 24 ; Song of Sol. 1 : 14 ; 2 Chron. 26 : 10) f and 

some of the best pasture land was south of 
Hebron, about Tekoa and Carmel (1 Sam. 25 : 2 ; 

2 Chron. 26 : 10 ; Amos 1 : l). 

13. Zebulun shall dwell at the haven 

of the sea. Zebulun lay between the sea of 
Galilee and the Mediterranean, and though 
probably not actually touching either, was yet 
thus commodiously situated for the purpose of 
trade and navigation, in which it extensively 
engaged. Moses, accordingly, adopts a kindred 
language in the parallel blessing Deut. 33 : 18 : 
"Of Zebulun he said, Rejoice, Zebulun, in thy 
going out " ; that is, in thy trading expeditions. 
Unto (upon) Zidon ; that is, Phoenicia, the 
name standing for the whole country, of which 

it was the chief City (comp. Josh. 13 : 6 ; Judg. 18 : 7). 

It will be observed that Zebulun is not here 
mentioned in the order of birth of Jacob's sons, 
which would be after Issachar (30: 17-20). This 
order occurs also in the blessing of Moses (33 : is) . 
He is placed before Issachar probably because 
of the subordinate position into which the latter 



14. Issachar is a strong ass (lit., an ass 
of bone, or, bony ass). The simile, as applied to 
Issachar, points to him as one who should be- 
come a robust, powerful race of men, adapted 
for carrying burdens, and devoting themselves 
to the labors of agriculture. 



Ch. XLIX.] 



GENESIS 



249 



15 And he saw that rest was good, and the land 
that it was pleasant ; and bowed his shoulder to 
bear, and became a servant unto tribute. 

16 Dan shall judge his people, as one of the tribes 
of Israel. 

17 Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in 
the path, that biteth the horse heels, so that his 
rider shall fall backward. 

18 I have waited for thy salvation, O Lord. 

19 Gad, a troop shall overcome him : but he shall 
overcome at the last. 

20 Out of Asher his bread shall be fat, and he shall 
yield royal dainties. 

21 Naphtali is a hind let loose : he giveth goodly 
words. 



15 And he saw a resting place that it was good, 
And the land that it was pleasant ; 

And he bowed his shoulder to bear, 
And became a servant under taskwork. 

16 Dan shall judge his people, 
As one of the tribes of Israel. 

17 Dan shall be a serpent in the way, 
An adder in the path, 

That biteth the horse's heels, 

So that his rider falleth backward. 

18 I have waited for thy salvation, O Lord. 

19 Gad, a troop shall press upon him : 
But he shall press upon their heel. 

20 Out of Asher his bread shall be fat, 
And he shall yield royal dainties. 

21 Naphtali is a hind let loose : 
He giveth goodly words. 



Couching down between two burdens, 

or, the sheepfolds. The ancient folds consisted 
of two compartments (hence the dual number — 
lit., two folds), one for the large cattle, and the 
other for the small, and between these the shep- 
herds were accustomed to lie down at night, and 
so this expression became proverbial for taking 
ease and comfort (Judg. 5 : 16). By some com- 
mentators the two folds are taken to refer to the 
two ranges of mountains enclosing the beautiful 
and fertile vale of Esdraelon, which the tribe of 
Issachar received for its inheritance. 

15. He saw that rest (or, a resting-place 
that it) was good, etc. Issachar would " re- 
nounce the warlike spirit and military enter- 
prises of his brethren for the indolent and 
luxurious repose of his fat pastures. Like a 
lazy ass, capable indeed of mighty efforts, but 
too well satisfied to put forth much exertion, he 
would devote himself to agriculture and pastoral 
pursuits, and prefer rather to pay tribute to his 
brethren, in order to secure their protection, than 
to leave his plowshare and cast aside his shep- 
herd's crook to follow them into the tented field 
of war." 

16. Dan shall judge his people ; a paro- 
nomasia or play upon the word Dan ; that is, 
one who judges. 

17. A serpent by the way, an adder in 
the path. The word translated " adder" means 
a horned snake, still frequently found in Western 
Asia, Arabia, and Northern Africa. It coils 
itself usually in the camel's footmark, in the 
sand, which it resembles in color, and thence 
suddenly darts out on any passing animal. The 
image implies subtlety and stratagem, which 
were characteristic of the tribe (Judg is : 27), and 
preeminently so of Samson. 

18. I have waited for thy salvation, O 
Lord. This devout ejaculation, from the ap- 
parent abruptness of its introduction, has been 
regarded by many modern expositors as an 
interpolation of a copyist— a view disproved by 
the fact that it appears in all the ancient ver- 



sions. It really harmonizes, moreover, with 
what precedes. The pious patriarch, foreseeing 
the severe conflicts that awaited his descendants, 
expresses the desire and confidence that the sal- 
vation of Jehovah would be graciously vouch- 
safed to them. It is quite possible that Jacob, 
having been moved by the Spirit of God to 
speak of the serpent biting the heel (ver. n) ( 
may have had his thoughts turned to the primal 
promise ( 3 : 16 ), where the sentence that the 
serpent should bruise the heel was succeeded by 
the promise that the serpent's head should be 
crushed by the coming seed. 

19. Gad, a troop shall overcome him, 
or, press upon him. Every word but two in this 
verse is a form of the same root, there being a 
play upon the words lil, gadh, and "inj, gedh- 
udh ; that is, a troop. The threefold alliteration 
of the original may be thus expressed : Gad, 
troops shall troop against him, but he shall troop 
on their retreat. The tribe dwelt on the east side 
of the Jordan, between Reuben and Manasseh, 
and was disturbed by incursions of the Ammon- 
ites and Arabian bands (Judg. io:8; ii:4; l 
chron. 5 : 18-23); these he would put to flight and 
closely press them in pursuit. Therefore, Moses 
says in his blessing (Deut. 33 : 20) : " He dwelleth 
as a lioness, and teareth the arm, yea, the crown 
of the head." 

20. Out of Asher his bread shall be 
fat. The allusion is to the fertility of the ter- 
ritory of Asher, which extended from Mount 
Carmel along the coast nearly to Mount Lebanon, 
and was specially rich in corn, wine, and oil (1 

Kings 6 : 11 ; comp. Deut. 33 : 24 ; Job 29 : 6). 

21. Naphtali is a hind let loose : he 
giveth goodly words. He is thus marked 

as being agile and fleet of foot (comp. 2 Sam. 2 : is ; 
Hab. s : 19 ), and excelling in the gift of speech. 
For example of the latter, see song of Deborah 
and Barak (Judg., chap. 5). Some scholars prefer 
the reading of the Septuagint : "Naphtali is a 
graceful terebinth, which putteth forth goodly 
boughs." 



250 



GENESIS 



[Ch. XLIX. 



22 Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful 
bough by a well; whose branches run over the 
wall: 

23 The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot 
at him, and hated him : 

24 But his bow abode in strength, and the arms 
of his hands were made strong by the hands of the 
mighty God of Jacob ; (from thence is the shepherd, 
the stone of Israel ;) 

25 Even by the God of thy father, who shall help 
thee ; and by the Almighty, who shall bless thee 
with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the 
deep that lieth under, blessings of the breasts, aud 
of the womb : 

26 The blessings of thy father have prevailed 
above the blessings of my progenitors unto the 
utmost bound of the everlasting hills: they shall 
be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the 
head of him that was separate from his brethren. 

27 Benjamin shall raven as a wolf: in the morn- 
ing he shall devour the prey, and at night he shall 
divide the spoil. 

28 All these are the twelve tribes of Israel : and 
this is it that their father spake unto them, and 
blessed them ; every one according to his blessing 
he blessed them. 

29 And he charged them, and said unto them, 
I am to be gathered unto my people : bury me with 



22 Joseph is a fruitful bough, 

A fruitful bough by a fountain ; 
His branches run over the wall. 

23 The archers have sorely grieved him, 
And shot at him, and persecuted him : 

24 But his bow abode in strength, 

And the arms of his hands were made strong, 
By the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob, 
(From thence is the shepherd, the stone of 
Israel,) 

25 Even by the God of thy father, who shall help 

thee, 
And by the Almighty, who shall bless thee, 
With blessings of heaven above, 
Blessings of the deep that coucheth beneath, 
Blessings of the breasts, and of the womb. 

26 The blessings of thy father 

Have prevailed above the blessings of my pro- 
genitors 
Unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills : 
They shall be on the head of Joseph, 
And on the crown of the head of him that was 
separate from his brethren. 

27 Benjamin is a wolf that ravineth : 

In the morning he shall devour the prey, 
And at even he shall divide the spoil. 

28 All these are the twelve tribes of Israel : and 
this is it that their father spake unto them and 
blessed them ; every one according to his bless- 

29 ing he blessed them. And he charged them, 
and said unto them, I am to be gathered unto 



22-26. Jacob now turns to his favorite son, 
Joseph, in blessing whom his heart seemed to 
be indeed overflowing. 

22. Joseph is a fruitful bough, a fruit- 
ful bough by a well (or, fountain) whose 
branches run over the wall ; lit., son of a 
fruit tree is Joseph, son of a fruit tree at the 
toell, daughters run over the wall. By a Hebrew 
idiom, a branch of a tree connected with the 
trunk, is said to be its son or daughter. The 
passage predicts the rapid increase of the pos- 
terity of Joseph, of which the following passages 
furnish an account : Num. 1 : 33, 35 ; Josh., chap. 
16 and 17. Moses says of them (Deut. 33 : it) : 
' ' They are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and 
the thousands of Manasseh " (comp. Josh, n : u-is). 

23. The archers (lit., the lords of arrows; 
that is, skilful archers) have sorely grieved 
him . An allusion to the early history of Joseph, 
but principally to the subsequent attacks to 
which Ephraim and Manasseh would be exposed 
from the neighboring Arabian tribes and the 
Canaanites (Josh, it : i6-i8; Judg. 12 : 4-e). 

24. From thence is the shepherd, the 
stone of Israel. "From thence" must be 
taken as referring not to Joseph, but to " the 
Mighty One of Jacob " of the preceding clause. 
The whole passage may be rendered thus : 
"From thence [even from] the Shepherd, the 
Stone of Israel ; from the God of thy father, 
who helps thee; and from the Almighty, who 
blesses thee [shall be] blessings of heaven 
above," etc. 

25. Blessings of heaven above ; the 



sunshine, and fertilizing rain and dews (comp. 

27 : 28 ; Deut. 33 : 13) . 

Blessings of the deep ; the springs which 
issue from the bowels of the earth. 

Blessings of the breasts, and of the 
womb ; fruitfulness in his posterity, and in 
their flocks and herds. 

26. The blessings of thy father have 
prevailed above the blessings of my 
progenitors, etc. Those adopting this ren- 
dering understand the patriarch to say, that the 
blessings which he pronounced upon Joseph 
surpassed those which he himself had received 
from Abraham and Isaac as far as the primary 
mountains towered above the earth, or that, 
while exceeding the benedictions of his ances- 
tors, they would last while the hills endured. 
But others prefer the following: "The bless- 
ings of thy father prevail over, are mightier 
than the blessings of the mountains of eternity, 
than, the loveliness of the hills of eternity." In 
favor of this latter rendering may be adduced 
the beautiful parallelism between the last two 
clauses, which the former translation overlooks. . 
Moses, who virtually repeats the blessing of 
Jacob, appears to favor the latter: "And for 
the chief things of the ancient mountains, and 
for the precious things of the everlasting hills." 

27. Benjamin shall raven as a wolf, 
is a wolf that ravineth ; his posterity would be 
warlike, fierce, and cruel. Examples of this are 
given in Judg. 19 : 22-27 ; 20 : 14-25 ; 1 Chron. 
7 : 7 ; 2 Chron. 14 : 8 ; 17 : 17. 

29. And he charged them, and said, 



Ch. L.] 



GENESIS 



251 



my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron 
the Hittite, 

30 In the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, 
which is before Marnre, in the land of Canaan, 
which Abraham bought with the field of Ephron 
the Hittite for a possession of a buryingplace. 

31 There they buried Abraham and Sarah his 
wife; there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his 
wife ; and there I buried Leah. 

32 The purchase of the field and of the cave that 
is therein ivas from the children of Heth. 

33 And when Jacob had made an end of com- 
manding his sons, he gathered up his feet into the 
bed, and yielded up the ghost, and was gathered 
unto his people. 

CHAPT 

1 AND Joseph fell upon his father's face, and 
wept upon him, and kissed him. 

2 And Joseph commanded his servants the physi- 
cians to embalm his father: and the physicians 
embalmed Israel. 

3 And forty days were fulfilled for him ; for so 
are fulfilled the days of those which are em- 
balmed : and the Egyptians mourned for him 
threescore and ten days. 

4 And when the days of his mourning were past, 
Joseph spake unto the house of Pharaoh, saying, If 
now I have found grace in your eyes, speak, I pray 
you, in the ears of Pharaoh, saying, 

5 My father made me swear, saying, Lo, I die : in 
mv grave which I have digged for me in the land 



my people : bury me with my fathers in the cave 

30 that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, in the 
cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is 
before Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which 
Abraham bought with the field from Ephron the 

31 Hittite for a possession of a buryingplace : there 
they burled Abraham and Sarah his wife ; there 
they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife ; and 

32 there I buried Leah : the field and the cave that 
is therein, which was purchased from the chil- 

33 dren of Heth. And wnen Jacob made an end of 
charging his sons, he gathered up his feet into 
the bed, and yielded up the ghost, and was 
gathered unto his people. 

ER L. 

1 AND Joseph fell upon his father's face, and 

2 wept upon him, and kissed him. And Joseph 
commanded his servants the physicians to em- 
balm his father : and the physicians embalmed 

3 Israel. And forty days were fulfilled for him ; 
for so are fulfilled the days of embalming : and 
the Egyptians wept for him threescore and ten 
days. 

4 And when the days of weeping for him were 
past, Joseph spake unto the house of Pharaoh, 
saying, If now I have found grace in your eyes, 
speak, I pray you, in the ears of Pharaoh, say- 

5 ing, My father made me swear, saying, Lo, I 
die : in my grave which I have digged for me 



etc. Extending to all his sons the charge already 
given to Joseph (« : 30). 

30. In the cave that is in the field of 
Machpelah. Jacob doubtless loved Rachel 
with a warmer affection than he had cherished 
for his fathers Abraham and Isaac ; still he 
would be buried with them rather than with 
her. He thus testified to his sons that as he had 
lived, so would he now die, in the same faith by 
which they had embraced the promise (see on 

23 : 16). 

33. He gathered up his feet into the 
bed, and yielded up the ghost. When 
the prophetic afflatus subsided, his exhausted 
powers gave way, he "yielded up the ghost, 
and was gathered unto his people " (see on 25 : 8). 



Chap. 50. Bueial of Jacob, and Death 
of Joseph. 2. And the physicians em- 
balmed Israel. According to Herodotus (II., 
84) there were in Egypt physicians for every 
description of disease, among whom, as a spe- 
cial but subordinate class, were included the 
Taricheuta, who superintended the embalming, 
and to whom the relatives gave the body for 
that purpose. There were, he informs us, three 
modes of proceeding, of which the most costly 
was as follows : they drew out the brain through 
the nostrils, and filled the cavity in the head 
with spices ; then they took out the viscera, and 
filled the space with all kinds of aromatics, 
after which they sewed it up. The next step 
was to salt the body with natron, and let it lie 
several days, or longer. Then they washed it 



off, wrapt it in fine linen bandages, and smeared 
it with gum. Finally, the relatives took it 
back, enclosed it in a chest, and kept it in a 
chamber for the dead. Thus Jacob was em- 
balmed, and subsequently Joseph also (ver. 26). 

"The Egyptian custom of embalming the 
dead arose from the doctrine of their religion, 
that after a period of three thousand years' 
migration through the bodies of various ani- 
mals, the soul again returned to its original 
body, and that provided the body remained 
unmutilated, the spirit entered its former hab- 
itation, and both, thus reunited, were immedi- 
ately made happy ; but if, on the contrary, the 
body was destroyed or defaced, the soul, as well 
as any remnants of the body which might re- 
main, shrank at once into annihilation " (Bush). 

3. And forty days were fulfilled for 
him. The historians Herodotus and Diodorus 
Siculus give seventy days as the time consumed 
by the process of embalming. But this prob- 
ably included the whole time from death to the 
interment of the body. This account, more- 
over, applies to times many centuries earlier 
than the age of these writers. 

4. Joseph spake unto the house of 
Pharaoh. Joseph deemed it proper to apply 
for a special leave of absence to attend the ob- 
sequies of his father ; and as it was not permis- 
sible to appear in the royal presence in mourn- 
ing attire, he made the request through the 

medium Of Others (Esther 4:2; comp. 41 : 14). 

5. In my (the) grave which I have digged 

for me. This is not inconsistent with the sup- 



252 



GENESIS 



[Ch. L. 



of Canaan, there shalt thou bury me. Now there- 
fore let me go up, I pray thee, and bury my father, 
and I will come again. 

6 And Pharaoh said, Go up, and bury thy father, 
according as he made thee swear. 

7 And Joseph went up to bury his father: and 
with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the 
elders of his house, and all the elders of the land 
of Egypt, 

8 And all the house of Joseph, and his brethren, 
and his father's house : only their little ones, and 
their flocks, and their herds, they left in the land 
of Goshen. 

9 And there went up with him both chariots and 
horsemen : and it was a very great company. 

10 And they came to the threshingfloor of Atad, 
which is beyond Jordan ; and there they mourned 
with a great and very sore lamentation: and he 
made a mourning for his father seven days. 

11 And when the inhabitants of the land, the 
Canaanites, saw the mourning in the floor of Atad, 
they said, This is a grievous mourning to the Egyp- 
tians: wherefore the name of it was called Abel- 
mizraim, which is beyond Jordan. 

12 And his sons did unto him according as he 
commanded them : 

13 For his sons carried him into the land of 
Canaan, and buried him in the cave of the field of 
Machpelah, which Abraham bought with the field 
for a possession of a buryingplace of Ephron the 
Hittite, before Mamre. 

14 And Joseph returned into Egypt, he. and his 
brethren, and all that went up with him to bury 
his father, after he had buried his father. 

15 And when Joseph's brethren saw that their 
father was dead, they said, Joseph will peradven- 
ture hate us, and will certainly requite us all the 
evil which we did unto him. 



in the land of Canaan, there shalt thou bury 
me. Now therefore let me go up, I pray thee 
and bury my father, and I will come again. 

6 And Pharaoh said, Go up, and bury thy father, 

7 according as he made thee swear. And Joseph 
went up to bury his father : and with him went 
up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his 
house, and all the elders of the land of Egvpt, 

8 and all the house of Joseph, and his brethren, 
and his father's house : only their little ones and 
their flocks, and their herds, they left in the 

9 land of Goshen. And there went up with him 
both chariots and horsemen : and it was a very 

10 great company. And they came to the thresh- 
ing-floor of Atad, which is beyond Jordan, and 
there they lamented with a very great and sore 
lamentation : and he made a mourning for his 

11 father seven days. And when the inhabitants 
of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning 
in the floor of Atad, they said, This is a grievous 
mourning to the Egyptians : wherefore the name 
of it was called Abel-mizraim, which is bevond 

12 Jordan. And his sons did unto him according 

13 as he commanded them : for his sons carried 
him into the land of Canaan, and buried him in 
the cave of the field of Machpelah, which Abra- 
ham bought with the field, for a possession of 
a buryingplace, of Ephron the Hittite, before 
Mamre. 

14 And Joseph returned into Egypt, he, and his 
brethren, and all that went up with him to bury 

15 his father, after he had buried his father. And 
when Joseph's brethren saw that their father 
was dead, they said, It may be that Joseph will 
hate us, and will fully requite us all the evil 



position that Abraham had previously bought 
the cave ; at a later time Jacob had cut a niche 
therein for himself. It was customary in those 
early times for men to have places of sepulture 
prepared some time before their death (comp. 2 

Chron. 16 : 14 ; Matt. 27 : 60). 

7. And Joseph went up to bury his 
father ; that is, from Goshen to Hebron — a 
journey of three hundred miles. 

With him went up all the servants of 
Pharaoh ; that is, the chief officers of the 
royal palace. 

The elders of his house (that is, of Pha. 
raoh's house), and all the elders of the 
land of Egypt (that is, the nobles and state 
officials). 

9. There went up with him both char- 
iots and horsemen ; that is, as a guard to 
protect them in the wilderness. The funeral 
cavalcade, composed thus of the nobility and 
military, with their equipages, would present 
a most imposing appearance, and Joseph must 
have been particularly gratified at the respect 
thus shown to the memory of his beloved parent 
and to himself. Elaborate portrayals of funeral 
processions may be seen on the Egyptian monu- 
ments. 

10. They came to the threshing-floor 
of Atad ; so called probably from the name of 

its possessor (2 Sam. 24 : 16; 1 Chron. 13 : 9) } or from 



the fact of the buck-thorn, Hebrew 1BK, 'Atadh, 
growing about the spot. Its precise position 
has not yet been ascertained. The expression 
" beyond Jordan " may mean either east of the 
Jordan or west of it, according to the stand- 
point of the writer. In this case he must be 
supposed to have been on the east side ; conse- 
quently, "beyond Jordan" was on the west 
side. This conclusion is confirmed by the state- 
ment of ver. 11, that "the Canaanites saw the 
mourning," implying that it occurred within the 
borders of Canaan — a conclusion nowise weak- 
ened, as Keil thinks, by the assertion of ver. 
13, that " his sons carried him into the land of 
Canaan," which means simply that they carried 
him from Egypt, and not from east of the Jor- 
dan. Atad was probably situated on the border 
between Egypt and Canaan. Here the proces- 
sion halted, and a further special mourning of 
seven days was observed. When these days of 
mourning were ended, Joseph and his brethren 
carried their father to Canaan according to his 
last request, and buried him in the cave of 
Machpelah. They then came back to the 
threshing-floor of Atad, where the Egyptians 
had remained, and the whole company returned 
to Egypt. 

15-21. After the burial of Jacob, conscience 
began again to work with Joseph's brethren, 
and to fill them with forebodings of vengeance 



Ch. L.] 



GENESIS 



253 



16 And they sent a messenger unto Joseph, say- 
ing, Thy father did command before he died, say- 
ing, 

17 So shall ye say unto Joseph, Forgive, I pray 
thee now, the trespass of thy brethren, and their 
sin ; for they did unto thee evil : and now, we pray 
thee, forgive the trespass of the servants of the God 
of thy father. And Joseph wept when they spake 
unto him. 

18 And his brethren also went and fell down be- 
fore his face; and they said, Behold, we be thy 
servants. 

19 And Joseph said unto them, Fear not : for am 
I in the place of God? 

20 But as for you, ye thought evil against me ; 
but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is 
this day, to save much people alive. 

21 Now therefore fear ye not : I will nourish you, 
and your little ones. And he comforted them, and 
spake kindly unto them. 

22 And Joseph dwelt in Egypt, he, and his father's 
house : and Joseph lived a hundred and ten years. 

23 And Joseph saw Ephraim's children of the 
third generation: the children also of Machir the 
son of Manasseh were brought up upon Joseph's 
knees. 

24 And Joseph said unto his brethren, I die ; and 
God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this 
land unto the land which he sware to Abraham, to 
Isaac, and to Jacob. 

25 And Joseph took an oath of the children of 
Israel, saying, God will surely visit you, and ye 
shall carry up my bones from hence. 

26 So Joseph died, being a hundred and ten years 
old : and they embalmed him, and he was put in a 
coffin in Egypt. 



16 which we did unto him. And they sent a mes- 
sage unto Joseph, saying, Thy father did com- 

17 mand before he died, saying, So shall ye say 
unto Joseph, Forgive, I pray thee now, the 
transgression of thy brethren, and their sin, for 
that they did unto thee evil : and now, we pray 
thee, forgive the transgression of the servants of 
the God of thy father. And Joseph wept when 

18 they spake unto him. And his brethren also 
went and fell down before his face ; and they 

19 said, Behold, we be thy servants. And Joseph 
said unto them, Fear not : for am I in the place 

20 of God ? And as for you, ye meant evil against 
me; but God meant it for good, to bring to 
pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive. 

21 Now therefore fear ye not: I will nourish you, 
and your little ones. And he comforted them, 
and spake kindly unto them. 

22 And Joseph dwelt in Egypt, he, and his father's 
house : and Joseph lived an hundred and ten 

23 years. And Joseph saw Ephraim's children of 
the third generation : the children also of Ma- 
chir the son of Manasseh were born upon 

24 Joseph's knees. And Joseph said unto his 
brethren, I die : but God will surely visit you, 
and bring you up out of this land unto the land 
which he sware to Abraham, to Isaac, and to 

25 Jacob. And Joseph took an oath of the children 
of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you, and 

26 ye shall carry up my bones from hence. So 
Joseph died, being an hundred and ten years 
old : and they embalmed him, and he was put 
in a coffin in Egypt. 



from him. They therefore deputed to him one 
of their number to intercede with him on their 
behalf, and to implore his forgiveness. This he 
most freely granted and gave them the strong- 
est assurances of his protection and support. 

( See on 42 : 7 ; comp. 45 : 8. ) 

24. Joseph said unto his brethren, I 
die. When Joseph saw that his end was ap- 
proaching, he expressed to his brethren his firm 
belief in the promise that had been spoken to 
his fathers (15 : 16, is ; 46 : 3, 4) t and laid upon 



them an oath, that when God should bring 
them into the promised land, they would carry 
his bones with them from Egypt. This, his last 
request, was carried out. He was embalmed, 
and his mummied corpse carefully preserved 
till the exodus, when they carried it away with 
them and eventually buried it in Shechem, in 
the piece of land which had been bought by 
Jacob (Gen. 33 : 19 ; josh. 24 : 32). The faith of Jo- 
seph (Heb. ii : 22) would be a constant reminder to 
his people that Egypt was not to be their home. 



OCT 



27 1S09 



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